The Secret Ride by Tyler Hamilton

The Secret Ride by Tyler Hamilton

He rode with Lance Armstrong during the Tours de France of 1999, 2000, and 2001.  He became so good, Armstrong saw him as a rival.  He eventually beat Lance Armstrong.  He rode in the Tour de France with a broken collarbone and still scored near the top.

Who is this guy?  He is one of the titans of cycling. 

He is Tyler Hamilton.  He wrote “The Secret Ride,” along with Daniel Coyle.

Purchase the book at Amazon here. 

Stone Cold Killers

To Lance Armstrong, winning was not everything; rather, no alternative was ever considered.  This probably led to some paranoid thinking on Lance’s part.  Once, Tyler overheard Lance calling his cycling rivals as “stone cold killers.”

Private Investigator Hackers and Stalkers

During the FBI investigation in to doping allegations on Lance Armstrong, Tyler Hamilton decided to cooperate with the FBI.  Then he noticed some strange things happening.  He saw strange people watching him when out on the roads, strange people watching him at restaurants, strange phone calls with no answer, and his computer began to act strangely as if some hacker was getting into his computer.  He mentioned this to the FBI investigator, who replied that he was not surprised that this was going on and that if Hamilton at any time felt physically threatened, he could inform the FBI and they would provide assistance.

Bags of Blood

After several days of high level cycling, the red blood cell count in the bloods stream would be greatly decreased.  The solution was to withdraw some blood from the cyclist several weeks before the event, store it, and then re-infuse this blood to the athlete after the few days of severe depletion from the first week of cycling.

The trick was to make sure that the bags of blood were clearly labeled and taken care of.  If the blood was accidentally switched with another cyclist of a different blood type, someone could die.  If the red blood cells were not kept at the proper temperature, this could either make the cyclist very sick or even kill them.

Tyler once received a blood transfusion from a bad bag of blood.  He became violently ill and vomited for hours afterward.

Old Bikes

Tyler recalls that during the Tour de France with the US Postal Team, Lance used new bikes while the other members of the team were given old bikes.  This sounds strange since for such a large dollar event like the Tour de France, one would expect the entire team to have the best and the latest equipment.

Broken Collarbone

Tyler was so tough that he was riding in the Tour de France, and several people along with him crashed.  He broke his collarbone.  But, he kept on riding.  He says that one of his strong points was the ability to handle an enormous amount of pain. 

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There is much more.  Read about:

• Confrontation with Lance at a Denver restaurant.
• Chris Carmichael, Lance’s coach, once called Tyler a “crazy mother@#cker” after seeing the superhuman feats that Tyler could do on a bike.
• Learn about pushing beyond the wall when you think you cannot push any harder.

It is a fun and easy to read book.  I highly recommend it.

Freddy Martini