My Park Hill: Park Hill Peloton Road Cyclist Rides on Past Pro Cycling Controversy

By Reid Neureiter

For Park Hill bicycle enthusiasts, the past six months have been depressing. In August of 2012, we learned that Lance Armstrong, the purported greatest champion of cycling’s greatest race, the Tour de France, would be banned for life and stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles. According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Armstrong was the mastermind of a grand doping conspiracy involving illegal performance enhancing drugs such as steroids and EPO that helped Armstrong claim the 1999-2005 Tours. In addition, Armstrong and his teammates on the dominant U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams used blood transfusions to boost their blood oxygen carrying capacity. In September of 2012, former Boulder resident and Armstrong teammate Tyler Hamilton published a memoir, The Secret Race, which detailed these literally blood-curdling practices. And in October 2012, the USADA released its “reasoned decision” detailing the evidence against Armstrong, which included dozens of sworn affidavits from Amstrong’s American teammates, all of whom admitted to having cheated to help Armstrong win and to help their own careers.

These admitted dopers either lived, trained, or raced here in Colorado and most are household names, if not heroes, among Denver cycling fans: Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie, Tom Danielson, David Zabriskie, Jonathan Vaughters, Christian VandeVelde. Leipheimer is a two-time champion of Colorado’s own US Pro Cycling Challenge professional race. And just this past summer, VandeVelde zoomed up Denver’s 17th Street at more than thirty miles per hour and made the left turn into City Park in front of East High School on his way to victory in 2012’s US Pro Cycling Challenge. Many Park Hill residents had walked or ridden the short distance to City Park to experience the spectacle of a professional bicycle race in our own backyard.

So in the face of the news that our heroes are cheaters and professional cycling from 1995 to 2007 had more in common with professional wrestling than a pristine athletic competition, what is a devoted Park Hill road cyclist to do? The answer is to pump up the tires, check the brakes and hit the bicycle path.

Park Hill is a thriving community of road cyclists, who enjoy regularly scheduled weekend or early morning weekday rides. Despite the bad publicity devoted to professional cycling, road cycling remains a wonderful way to enjoy Denver, whether alone or with friends.

For example, the Park Hill Peloton is an informal group of men and women who meet at Cake Crumbs on Krameria Street at 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday and Friday mornings in the late spring and summer months for a group ride of 25 miles around the Cherry Creek Reservoir. Cyclists of all levels of experience are welcome to join, and the faster riders form a race group (a “peloton”) around the back of the reservoir to experience the effects of drafting and teamwork. Another group ride leaves from the Cycleton bicycle shop in Stapleton on Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. for a fast, 40-mile ride east on 56th Avenue past Denver International Airport and back via Watkins. Between ten and thirty riders of high ability particpate in the Stapleton ride, but there is usually a “B” group that rides a shorter distance at slower speed as well.

With stronger anti-doping controls, and a new generation of professional riders committed to riding without drugs, it is hoped that professional cycling will be able to clean its image and protect new racers from the temptations of illegal performance enhancing techniques. Park Hill boasts a number of accomplished young racers. East High School student Andrew Wise finished third in the junior State Criterium Championships, held on Bannock street last August. And Park Hill residents and East High sophomores, 16-year twins Liam and Cormac Dunn have won multiple road and cyclo-cross events across Colorado. The Dunns both placed high at the United States junior national cyclo-cross championships in January of 2013. In the meantime, the Park Hill’s cyclists can continue to experience the thrill and wonder of a good bike ride, wither alone or with friends. Check out the Park Hill Peloton homepage on Facebook for more information about upcoming rides.

How do you see the neighborhood? Why do you live here? What makes Park Hill home? Submit your essays to
editor@greaterparkhill.org.