28 November 2011

Cyclist torture in Canberra and surrounds

| johnboy
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RideHappy has a fascinating piece on the selection camp for the AIS women’s cycling program.

Very deliberately, we were exhausted physically within the first 3 days. We were given no feedback, either positive or negative. We had no spare time to ourselves. We were never told more than a few hours in advance what challenge we would face next. We were sleep-deprived, woken unexpectedly, and at times not fed. Our challenges took us far outside our comfort zones. Our performances – good or bad – were greeted by blank expressions. Each night, we had intense de-briefs where a few of us would be grilled mercilessly about the decisions we had made that day. We were videoed and interviewed, all the time – constantly under the microscope.

Who’d have thought there’s more to cycling than bicycle bar crawls and not having to pay for parking?

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LSWCHP said :

Felix the Cat said :

Getting back to the original topic, who would you all barrack for in the Olympics/Commonwealth Games/other major sporting event if AIS didn’t train our athletes? Do you think we are going to have the best athletes in the world if all they do for training is kick a footy around the oval on a Sunday afternoon for 1/2 an hour or pedal 5km around the lake on their bikes on the ‘shared’ path at 10km/h while dodging pedestrians and dogs? The athletes have to put in maximum effort. They have to hurt like it has never hurt before. They have to give 110%. That’s what the coaches are paid to do. It’s not for everyone but to be the best of the best you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. Cycling/footy/badminton/whatever sport has to be your life.

I wouldn’t barrack for any of the tossers. I’d rather spend my time cheering for my kids, and the hundreds of other kids who participate in sporting activities around this town each weekend. And that’s where I reckon the money should go. It should go to the community in general, and bugger the olympic medals, particularly if this is the sort of madness that is needed to shave that extra millisec off the record.

Would anybody actually feel any pride if an Australian won the 100m at the next olympics by one-thousandth of a second? Would anybody actually say that the winner was a better runner than the person who came second? And if we have to employ methods that many would categorise as torture to win these medals, then what is the point? Who really wins, when we debase ourselves in this manner? The only winners in the long run are not the athletes, because they’ll all be buggered and crippled by their mid thirties. The winners are the bloated gravy train in the IOC et al that feeds off these events.

And to the various folks who responded …

I’m not a bitter high level ex sporting candidate, I just participate in amateur sporting activities, as do my family. I don’t hate cyclists, and in fact I ride my bike all the time. I don’t think the benefits of the AIS flow to the general community. I have friends at CSIRO and applaud their work. I appreciate the benefits of wifi technology…I’m using it now.

My point is that spending a brazillian dollars to achieve nebulous sporting goals via disreputable methods is The Wrong Thing To Do.

Agreed. We’re always going to have elite athletes whether they’ve had $1000 worth of training or $100,000. We don’t need to spend a heap of money on a whole heap of wannabes and a small selection of people who will actually make a career out of it. I’m not a fan of hero-worship in sport. It breeds a huge amount of talentless tossers who take the amateur side of it way too seriously and ruin the fun side of it for everyone else. I did the referee course for touch footy in order to earn a bit of extra cash during uni but after being abused by the captain of some semi serious team of stiff shirts for letting a forward pass through (they were flogging the other team 20-0 at half time and the pass put the losers in their only scoring position of the whole game) I realised that I coudn’t hang around people like that. Only team sport I’ve done since was mixed Netball, which to be truthful wasn’t always just about sport.;)

If it cant kill ya it aint a sport.

Captain RAAF8:16 am 30 Nov 11

LSWCHP said :

Two post nutjob I know, but what the hell, this really steams me.

If these folks want to experience some real discomfort, and absolutely explode their comfort zones while doing something more useful than pointlessly riding bicycles in circles, then perhaps they could join the army and try a stint of infantry soldiering.

Trust me, it’s harder than any amount of cycling will ever be.

No place for chicks there mate, no place at all. They should stay in the ******* kitchen where they belong! As for cycling and the olympics, gotta agree. The real meaning of the event has been lost, now its an over commercialised, corrupt, irrelevant and out of touch pole smoking session that more and more people can’t be stuffed watching.

Toughen up princesses if yer want to suck on the public teat.

Felix the Cat said :

Getting back to the original topic, who would you all barrack for in the Olympics/Commonwealth Games/other major sporting event if AIS didn’t train our athletes? Do you think we are going to have the best athletes in the world if all they do for training is kick a footy around the oval on a Sunday afternoon for 1/2 an hour or pedal 5km around the lake on their bikes on the ‘shared’ path at 10km/h while dodging pedestrians and dogs? The athletes have to put in maximum effort. They have to hurt like it has never hurt before. They have to give 110%. That’s what the coaches are paid to do. It’s not for everyone but to be the best of the best you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. Cycling/footy/badminton/whatever sport has to be your life.

I wouldn’t barrack for any of the tossers. I’d rather spend my time cheering for my kids, and the hundreds of other kids who participate in sporting activities around this town each weekend. And that’s where I reckon the money should go. It should go to the community in general, and bugger the olympic medals, particularly if this is the sort of madness that is needed to shave that extra millisec off the record.

Would anybody actually feel any pride if an Australian won the 100m at the next olympics by one-thousandth of a second? Would anybody actually say that the winner was a better runner than the person who came second? And if we have to employ methods that many would categorise as torture to win these medals, then what is the point? Who really wins, when we debase ourselves in this manner? The only winners in the long run are not the athletes, because they’ll all be buggered and crippled by their mid thirties. The winners are the bloated gravy train in the IOC et al that feeds off these events.

And to the various folks who responded …

I’m not a bitter high level ex sporting candidate, I just participate in amateur sporting activities, as do my family. I don’t hate cyclists, and in fact I ride my bike all the time. I don’t think the benefits of the AIS flow to the general community. I have friends at CSIRO and applaud their work. I appreciate the benefits of wifi technology…I’m using it now.

My point is that spending a brazillian dollars to achieve nebulous sporting goals via disreputable methods is The Wrong Thing To Do.

Felix the cat said sportsmen and women set up tax rort foundations.

I think we should set up a form of HECS for AIS athletes. I’ve got no problem with them getting the training etc (although I do wonder about some of the programmes), as it does trickle down, but make them pay it back once they earn to a certain level. Even if they don’t succeed in their sport, once they earn above a certain amount, start paying it back.

I don’t get it? the whole thing is optional right? They’re trying to weed out the people who don’t want it that badly, that’s why its tough. I hope they go well through the tests.

OpenYourMind5:23 pm 29 Nov 11

This post may have attracted the most stupid comments I’ve seen since the Mulley-aclypse!
LSWCHP, maybe you don’t realise just how tough an endurance these girls took on, it’s hard to compare with what soldiers endure, but if you read the article you may have seen “physiologists worked closely with the SAS and commandos” – are those soldiers tough enough for ya?

As for money spent on elite sport. Well, we pride ourselves in being a sporting nation. Sport occupies the attention of nearly all Australians in one way or another. Giving 100% in sport embodies (or at least it used to) being Australian. As others have pointed out, apart from being about Australian pride, the work of the AIS flows out to many areas of our community.

And well done, to the girls in this article. Taking on those tests is a credit to each of you.

Reading the article itself, ok, it’s EXACTLY what special forces go through, since it’s designed by them… should’ve read the whole thing first!

Sounds similar to the selection trials that soldiers go through when they sign up for special forces…

KB1971 said :

So football clubs are OK because they get the majority of their money from alcohol & gambling?

Those funds are voluntarily surrendered (unlike taxes).

I want a new bike, dammit. Not because I ride, but because others get support and I don’t and THAT’S NOT FAIR!!!!!!

The article also says:

“In a significant shift from past selection policy, CA introduced a ‘survival’ theme to the camp. The coaches and physiologists worked closely with the SAS and the Commandos to design a camp that would push each of us to our physical, mental and emotional limits.”

Great use of our most elite soldiers training….

Damm this place is full of windgers, for the most stupid stuff. It’s so off-putting.
I congratulate the girls for even getting into the program.

Holden Caulfield3:07 pm 29 Nov 11

Even cyclists hate cyclists.

Felix the Cat said :

Successful atheletes give to charity.

Good for them. It still doesn’t help repay the hundreds of millions of tax dollars spent on them.

Successful doctors also often give to charity, work for MSF, etc. They still need to pay the government back for their training.

Felix the Cat2:48 pm 29 Nov 11

Jethro said :

Also, I think it would be fair to require the elite athletes who make millions from their careers (eg. Cadel Evans) to repay some of the money spent training them. Nurses, doctors, teachers, etc all have to pay for their education.

http://www.cadelevans.com.au/bio.aspx

“Most Australian people in cycling know Amy’s story. Amy Gillett was killed in a training accident 18 July 2005, whilst I was riding my first Tour de France. Following on from this fatal accident, the Amy Gillett Foundation has been established, based on Amy’s love for cycling and on the will to help the community to reduce the risks of accidents between cyclists and motorists. Like Amy, everyday I risk my life while doing what I love to do. Supporting the AGF is the least I can do.

Asia Onlus

I have a long strong passion and interest for Tibet and its culture. The first connection with Asia came with a birthday present from Chiara: a sponsorship for a Tibetan child living in Nepal and studying in a Tibetan school in Kathmandu. Since visiting our sponsored child Tashi and the Manasarovar Academy of Kathmandu, in October 2008, we’re proud to know that a little bit of effort from our part goes a long way to help.

Ian Thorpe’s ‘Fountain for Youth’

Ian‘s foundation aims at helping a complicated problem in an important area in Australian society. The Foundation produces and distributes reading packs to aboriginal communities in remote Australia to help with a crucial aspect of integrating into modern society – literacy. I was born in the Northern Territory but even if I don’t live there today, I understand some of the problems the aboriginals face, so I try to support the ‘Foundation for Youth’ when and where possible. “

Lance Armstrong (7 times winner of Tour de France and Cancer survivor) has set up his own charity livestrong.org

Getting back to the original topic, who would you all barrack for in the Olympics/Commonwealth Games/other major sporting event if AIS didn’t train our athletes? Do you think we are going to have the best athletes in the world if all they do for training is kick a footy around the oval on a Sunday afternoon for 1/2 an hour or pedal 5km around the lake on their bikes on the ‘shared’ path at 10km/h while dodging pedestrians and dogs? The athletes have to put in maximum effort. They have to hurt like it has never hurt before. They have to give 110%. That’s what the coaches are paid to do. It’s not for everyone but to be the best of the best you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. Cycling/footy/badminton/whatever sport has to be your life.

http://inrng.com/2011/08/cadel-evans-bike/

“He’s discreet about it but Tour de France winner Cadel Evans does plenty of work behind the scenes to help charities. Things got visible when he was wearing pro Tibet t-shirts just before the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing but he’s done plenty more. Recently he auctioned off a bike for a school in Nepal and he’s done this on other occasions before, each time helping out a bit.

Now he’s putting his 2011 Tour de France bike up for raffle, this time to help a cerebral palsy charity in Australia that’s linked to a reader of this blog, Troy Upfield.”

http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/news/newsstories/8276957/five-things-you-didnt-know-about-cadel-evans

“Evans is a supporter of The Amy Gillett Foundation, in memory of a fellow cyclist who was killed in an accident, and Ian Thorpe’s Foundation for Youth.

He is passionate about Tibetan culture and visited Kathmandu to support to charity Asia Onlus that aims to promote social development in Tibet. During the 2008 Tour de France, Evans caused controversy when he sported a t-shirt in support of Tibet’s struggle against China.”

I guess the question should be asked, why do some Australians (particularly those financing the training of elite athletes) feel the need for Australia to finish in the top 4 or 5 countries at the Olympics.

We certainly aren’t the 4th or 5th largest country, by population or wealth, so what is with this need to prove ourselves.

To me it seems like a strange type of national insecurity.

I personally would rather see massive amounts of cash being invested in grass-roots and amateur sports. Maybe that would help end the one area we always finish in the top 2 – national obesity levels.

Also, I think it would be fair to require the elite athletes who make millions from their careers (eg. Cadel Evans) to repay some of the money spent training them. Nurses, doctors, teachers, etc all have to pay for their education.

And what if the training methods and evaluation that the AIS does trickles down into the health system to develop better nutrition information to help our kids grow healthier? Or if the exercise and stretching regimes end up helping patients recover from serious trauma or injury?

Would you also like to stop funding places like the CSIRO and not have Wi-Fi?
How about the US never funded the space program and we never got Teflon?
While we’re at it, lets can Formula1 and get rid of ABS brakes.

You can’t see the point. It doesn’t do anything for you (that you can see). Pull your head in, go for a walk in the sun and chill the hell out!

How about we rewrite your original post with:

“This is lunacy. I wouldn’t want to do that. They are crazy” – enjoy your walk.

LSWCHP said :

This is lunacy. Hateful deranged lunacy, and I wish it would stop. The events that the AIS athletes train for are called “Games”. You know, like The Olympic Games. “Games” are things that people are supposed to “play”, generally for recreation and enjoyment.

Turning recreation into some sort of psychopathic Nazi horror ordeal in a mad quest for a few extra milliseconds in order to win an utterly meaningless gold medal is more wrong-headed than I can begin to describe.

And expending vast amounts of public money in this fatuous and misguided endeavour just makes it even worse. How much did this craziness, with its cast of sadistic blank faced torturers cost? Even if it only cost $2.49, the money would have been better spent on a teacher, or a nurse, or a book for a library, or a cop, or just about any other damned thing at all apart from providing some carefully calibrated artificial suffering in order to take a bunch of pampered boofheads outside their pitiful comfort zones.

I’ve played sport most of my life. All of my kids play summer and winter sport. As a sportsman, I can say quite unequivocally that this is crap.

/me claps.

Of all the wastes of time and money that our tax dollars are spent on, the AIS has to be the biggest.

LSWCHP said :

The events that the AIS athletes train for are called “Games”. You know, like The Olympic Games.

I’ve played sport most of my life…

No, the events aren’t called games. They’re called “races” and one race in every 4 years is called the “Olympic games.” The remaining 200-odd have quite different names.

You may play, but the people at the AIS compete.

While this has clearly been influenced by reality-tv, and unnecessarily so – the majority of the stuff done here is a very suitable test of real-world performance in the pro peleton. It’s no different to elite-level training and assessment from many other sports, including those you partake in socially.

Suggesting these people go do infantry training is facile. These women are near the top echelons of their sport, and looking to improve their cycling – not to prove how good they are at being infantry soldiers.

Good on the AIS for working hard to progress our athletes internationally and best of luck to these women, too.

Sounds like the AIS selectors have been watching a bit too much “reality” TV.

Sorry, “back” & “get some councelling”, in my frenzy of type ranting I forgot my basic grammer.

Public funding of art galleries annoys the p!ss out of me but you know what? I have to live with that………..talk about whinge!

Didn’t quite get there in your sporing life LSWCHP? Knocked bacl one too many times?

So football clubs are OK because they get the majority of their money from alcohol & gambling?

You people really need to see some counselling for your hatred of cyclists………….it might seem pointless to you but so is chasing an odd shaped ball around a field for 80 minutes or standing in an oval for 5 days in the blistering heat of summer.

[Rant Over]…..I feel better now!

LSWCHP said :

Two post nutjob I know, but what the hell, this really steams me.

If these folks want to experience some real discomfort, and absolutely explode their comfort zones while doing something more useful than pointlessly riding bicycles in circles, then perhaps they could join the army and try a stint of infantry soldiering.

Trust me, it’s harder than any amount of cycling will ever be.

Heh, and at least the Army feeds you!

LSWCHP said :

Two post nutjob I know, but what the hell, this really steams me.

If these folks want to experience some real discomfort, and absolutely explode their comfort zones while doing something more useful than pointlessly riding bicycles in circles, then perhaps they could join the army and try a stint of infantry soldiering.

Trust me, it’s harder than any amount of cycling will ever be.

Time for the long bow!

The primary point of the AIS is and was not to improve individual athletes … it was to save Australia international embarrassment. And for every professional athlete coached to the peak of their physical performance, how many others see that athlete as an idol and make some small effort themselves to be a better person? How many people are inspired to stop being a couch-dwelling tubby and to improve their health? How much healthier and happier are we as a society as a result?

Of course, if you’d prefer us to be all sadfaced lardarses, be my guest… and then why stop at the AIS? Every current professional sport in Australia is subsidised by the government or has directly benefited from the R&D produced by the AIS and the state institutes of sport.

What really gets my goat is the fact that we contribute funds to WADA. Talk about shooting ourselves in the foot!

LSWCHP said :

And expending vast amounts of public money in this fatuous and misguided endeavour just makes it even worse. How much did this craziness, with its cast of sadistic blank faced torturers cost? Even if it only cost $2.49, the money would have been better spent on a teacher, or a nurse, or a book for a library, or a cop, or just about any other damned thing at all apart from providing some carefully calibrated artificial suffering in order to take a bunch of pampered boofheads outside their pitiful comfort zones.

I agree, but would extend the argument to the whole of the AIS rather than just this particular activity. Public funding of elite sport annoys me. The money would be better spent on encouraging more public participation in sport.

Having said that, if I’m going to fund the AIS then I want to know that the people benefiting from that funding are going to put in, not just treat it as a holiday camp. This sort of testing is one way of ensuring that.

I agree with LSWCHP’s rant. Spending millions of taxpayers dollars on a few individuals in the quest for a millisecond is an obscenity. And the Olympic games is also sick reflection of our times.

The bigger the money, the bigger the joke.

Two post nutjob I know, but what the hell, this really steams me.

If these folks want to experience some real discomfort, and absolutely explode their comfort zones while doing something more useful than pointlessly riding bicycles in circles, then perhaps they could join the army and try a stint of infantry soldiering.

Trust me, it’s harder than any amount of cycling will ever be.

This is lunacy. Hateful deranged lunacy, and I wish it would stop. The events that the AIS athletes train for are called “Games”. You know, like The Olympic Games. “Games” are things that people are supposed to “play”, generally for recreation and enjoyment.

Turning recreation into some sort of psychopathic Nazi horror ordeal in a mad quest for a few extra milliseconds in order to win an utterly meaningless gold medal is more wrong-headed than I can begin to describe.

And expending vast amounts of public money in this fatuous and misguided endeavour just makes it even worse. How much did this craziness, with its cast of sadistic blank faced torturers cost? Even if it only cost $2.49, the money would have been better spent on a teacher, or a nurse, or a book for a library, or a cop, or just about any other damned thing at all apart from providing some carefully calibrated artificial suffering in order to take a bunch of pampered boofheads outside their pitiful comfort zones.

I’ve played sport most of my life. All of my kids play summer and winter sport. As a sportsman, I can say quite unequivocally that this is crap.

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