The Ultimate Ride

Chris Carmichael, the “coach” of Lance Armstrong, has made a nice living partly because of how his name was associated with Armstrong’s success. His book, The Ultimate Ride, has many good pieces of advice for cycling enthusiasts. In thinking about this book that shouldn’t be ignored.

Also not to be ignored is Carmichael’s reputation, as he puts it, for “world-class coaching” services. In promoting those services, I doubt he’ll ever be posting on his web site opinions from cycling books Daniel Coyle has written. One such book is The Secret Race, co-authored by Coyle with Tyler Hamilton. That book is the source for much of what follows, material which could factor into whether you overlook Armstrong’s fall from grace show more when deciding if Carmichael’s book is for you.

To elaborate. During the 2001 Tour de France it became known that Armstrong was working with Michele Ferrari, a notorious “trainer” in the cycling world. This may have confused fans under the impression that Chris was Lance’s coach. Concerning his role, Coyle writes, “Carmichael described a system in which Armstrong sent his daily training data to Ferrari, who forwarded them to Carmichael, who then adjusted Armstrong’s training accordingly.”

That procedure is worthy of a bureaucrat’s endorsement. And apparently the existence of this system had not been made clear to Ferrari. When asked about Carmichael, Ferrari said he had never communicated with the man. “I do not work with Chris Carmichael. I work only for Lance. Only Lance.”

Nor do the following comments found in The Secret Race enhance Chris’s “world-class coaching” reputation:
Tyler Hamilton: “Carmichael was a nice guy, but he was more of a cheerleader than a coach.”
Jonathan Vaughters: “In two years, I never heard Lance refer to Chris one time.”
Floyd Landis: “Give me a break. Carmichael’s a nice guy, but he had nothing to do with Lance. Carmichael was a beard.”
Christian Vande Velde: “Chris had nothing to do with Lance’s daily training. I think his role was more like a friend, someone to talk about the bigger picture.”

Hamilton, Vaughters, Landis, and Vande Velde are all former teammates of Lance Armstrong. They might just know.

Perhaps Coach Carmichael can find it consoling that these opinions, along with Ferrari’s statement, imply that he wasn’t the one drawing up Armstrong’s doping program—a program mimicked by Hamilton and others. But being called just a cheerleader instead of a coach can’t be good for a coach’s reputation.

The point? Ask whether what this book offers is in fact the coach that’s been advertised. Somehow, that seems relevant. show less