Many young people own bikes and at one point they race them and usually that is it, for professional bike racing in North America is not something many think about. The situation is different in Europe where bike racing is a very popular sport and summer excitement. In North America you might have heard about the name of Lance Armstrong – he won 6 Tour de France victories and for the longest time said he was not using doping techniques. It is safe to say, that the overwhelming majority of elite professional athletes in bike racing used drugs to both keep them in the game and try to gain an extra 4% advantage. In the world of elite athletes where each of them have great natural talents, vigorous training, and great desire to win and many of them are near equal or on any given day one of them should challenge to win, all the athletes are looking for a slight edge. The slight edge is the understanding of enhancing oxygen cells and preserving muscle strength till the end of the race where a sprint is needed to win the challenge. In one sense, the advances the elite athletes and their doctors learn should benefit people around the world on the other sense, it is an advantage that others do not have.

In the book The Secret Race – Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France; Doping, Cover-ups and Winning at All Costs by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle published by Bantam Books, NY, 2012, Tyler Hamilton a very good rider and friend of Lance Armstrong tells his story and how the doping is done and why it is done. One has to remember the doping techniques are enhancers a late addition to the training and desire to win. The training and desire to win come first and foremost, the winning  brings a contracts, sponsorship, and the ability to continue to be a bike racer. It is easy to understand why the athletes take the drugs, after they have done everything possible not to take drugs but are just a little bit away from victory or the podium. Training day in and day out takes a toll on your body; injuries take a toll on the body; keeping the right weight takes a toll on your body; maintaining championship form takes a toll on the body; as in every job – the job takes a toll on your body.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, these will typically be the sponsors of the teams. The reason why the companies will be sponsors is in the above example – the bike race brings out many people to watch both in person and on TV. Sports can be one of the few areas where the general population turns to watch because while many can predict the winner, there are many variables to go into winning and given increasingly equal performers the tide can turn quickly. In the bike racing – one rider maybe a generalist; one is better climbing hills (mountains); one is better coached in terms of strategy of the race; and a multitude of other factors. Look at the sponsors of the race, the market share of the ratings on TV, and determine if the companies are effectively reaching to their target market.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.