Little Gert always asks the difficult questions. Last night she was watching the Tour de France preview on OLN with me and, as always, asked all sorts of questions. Who will win? Who's that guy? Which one is Liquigas (she loves the name)? Can I ride that fast?
How about:
Daddy, the riders who aren't allowed to race how did they cheat?
That one stopped me dead in my tracks. Point shaving I could explain to a kid. Throwing a race, I could explain. Sticking a lead pipe in someone's spokes or pushing them off a mountain, I could explain. The confrontation between O'Grady and McEwan last year, the head push, I could explain. Steroids I could explain.
But how do you explain blood doping to a four-year-old? Luckily, I work for college textbook publishers and she's currently reading Vander's Human Physiology, which was sitting on my shelf. Once she has a base understanding of how the human body works, then I'll explain what those guys were accused of. Until then, I have no freaking idea how to describe it that wouldn't either sound boring and scientific, or like a horror/sci fi movie.
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