Team Type 1 and the Electric Kool-Aid Litmus Test

Part 1, Part 2, Parts 3 & 4, Postscript, Team Type 1: Opinion

Team Type 1 and the Electric Kool-Aid Litmus Test

an editorial follow-up to my 4-part interview with James Stout

You might think that speaking to James Stout for our interview formed my opinion of Phil Southerland and Team Type 1 management. You’d be incorrect

When I first heard about James, my immediate opinion was, “Disgruntled former employee,” ”prima donna,” “crybaby.”

To quote myself:

James is at once, mature and immature; humble and arrogant; naive and wise; grounded and flaky; stoic and a drama queen; tough and a sniveling bitch.”

What James is not, however, is a bitter former employee out to badmouth his ex-boss.

I gave James opportunity after opportunity to talk shit about Phil Southerland and Team Type 1. Not once did he take advantage of that, not even off the record.

When he discussed Phil and the team he seemed frustrated, sad, flabbergasted, regretful, but not angry.

Contrary to what I had expected, James felt and continues to feel a significant debt of gratitude toward Phil and TT1.

In fact, the one and only time that James ever seemed angry, was when he discussed the doctor who mockingly told him to “play chess.”

Almost as soon as I began my research on James Stout, I came across the account of Willem Van den Eynde, whose abuse at the hands of Southerland and Team Type 1 instantly one-upped the Stout story.

To summarize the situation, according to Van den Eynde himself, Willem was denied food and sleep, forced to sleep on the floor of Southerland’s hotel room, screamed at by Southerland for daring to momentarily place his bag on the bed in that room, berated by management for daring to train on his bike, given a diet that neither conformed to his diabetic needs nor to his needs as an athlete (putting him at risk of a hypo), was denied testing supplies by Phil Southerland though they were readily at hand (apparently Southerland laughed at him after the denial of testing supplies), was forced to pay all of his own expenses and never reimbursed.

Then I learned that WHILE James was going through his ordeal there were three other riders (at a minimum) who acknowledged they were going through similar hassles and harassments.

Every one of those other three riders is so intimidated and outright terrified of what Phil Southerland might do to them that they all refuse to discuss their time with Team Type 1.

The topper, however, the detail that pushed things over the edge in my formation of an opinion regarding Phil Southerland and Team Type 1, was hearing the rumors of an insurance fraud investigation that is ongoing in Italy.

The spread of dishonesty and corruption had become too much to overlook, or even to doubt, at least in my own mind.

From those few details that I’ve just shared came another handful of thoughts and opinions:

• If we know that just during Stout’s time with TT1 there were at least four riders all in similar circumstances, and we know that prior to that time there was at least one other, how can we not assume that there are many, many more such cases?
• Looking at the bulk of just the known cases; three of the five are so frightened of Southerland that they’ve gone into hiding and cannot bring themselves to speak of their time on TT1. Willem Van den Eynde spoke up very briefly, but has since vanished and gone silent.
• It seems that Southerland and top management at Team Type 1 are a kind of wolf pack, identifying the weak sheep, culling them from the herd and savaging them without mercy. The difference here, in my opinion, is that unlike wolves, Southerland and his crew seem to inflict their torments purely for sport.
• Worse, Southerland and his top managers choose young athletes who lack the life experience to even properly recognize what’s being done to them until it is far too late.

The only thing that set James apart from the other victims (those we know of and those we don’t), is that after a series of personal struggles, which saw him very nearly caving in to the same fear and intimidation that has muzzled all the others, he found just enough spine to step up and tell his story.

The interview that I did with James almost didn’t happen. Even after it was completed and written, James wanted it pulled and he see-sawed between hiding it from the world and daring to allow it to see the light of day.

Why? One can only presume that it is out of fear of Phil Southerland.

The day after Part 1 of our interview went up on Cyclismas for the first time (it was taken down for several days due to James’ concerns, then republished), Phil Southerland called James and screamed at him on the phone for 45 minutes.

If you’ve read Part 1, then you know that part of the interview is completely innocuous. There’s not one thing in there that could possibly be taken as negative regarding Phil Southerland or Team Type 1. They’re barely even mentioned.

Considering that Part 1 was completely inoffensive, then Phil could only have been in a panic about what he thought would be coming in future installments of the interview. Since nothing negative was even hinted at in Part 1, Phil must have knowledge of things that he 100% knows that he does not want released to the general public.

Phil Southerland had avoided any personal contact with James for months while James was struggling to learn what was going on and why, while James was losing his apartment, living in his car, unsure of where he would find his next meal, suffering without proper access to diabetes testing supplies and insulin. I’ve concluded that the moment Phil thought that James had found the courage to speak up in his own defense, Phil was instantly in contact in a most personal and threatening manner. To me, that speaks volumes for the character, ethics and morality of Phil Southerland.

Here are a few more details.

Immediately after Part 2 of my interview with James Stout went up, there was this comment posted to the Cyclismas site by an “AJohnson”:

How anybody could take this interview serious is beyond me. This kid has the reputation of a liar and a talentless cyclist. Plus, it sounds as if the interviewer is just trying to start a bunch of rumors about one of the few teams that is actually trying to do something good in cycling.”

First, the assessment that James is a “talentless cyclist” is something you may think is hinted at in our interview, where James tells us that he was at first on the elite team, and then on the developmental team. Except that if he were truly talentless, he would have simply been released. No team keeps on riders that cannot help the team, and no team should have to justify getting rid of a rider like that. That’s just a part of sports; if you aren’t good enough, you go home.

If James had been struggling in his performances, this is the kind of thing that would generally be known by someone who raced against James, but even more so by his coaches and teammates. But no such sentiments have been found online to back it up and no evidence nor even accusations of James presumed lack of talent were given as reasons for his release. To toss that out publicly now seems not only disingenuous, but slanderous.

Second, in my researching James, I did not come across a single reference about any lack of truthfulness or integrity in him. Not one. Even afterward a Google search for “James Stout liar” brings nothing. Nothing.

Instead, what I’ve been sent since the interview started going up has been 100% in praise of James and his character, that he’s pleasant, trusted, that the information he’s shared about diabetes has allowed individuals help themselves and to help others.

Aside from the mysterious and utterly unsupported “AJohnson” comment, not so much as a single comment, tweet or email has even hinted at James Stout lacking integrity or honesty. Not. Even. One.

The statements in the “AJohnson” comment are the types of statements that are made by disgruntled employers trying to cover their asses.

So I speculated that “AJohnson” was actually Phil Southerland himself, or else someone very close to Phil.

I discussed this with William Thacker, the publisher of Cyclismas, who checked the IP address. This is what he told me he found:

“The comment came from an ISP in Georgia, just outside Atlanta.”

The IP address has been saved, just so we can back that claim up.

Where is Team Type 1 headquartered? Atlanta, Georgia.

The day after “AJohnson” left his comment, Chris Baldwin started asking people I know about how to reach Cyclismas. He was given the editor’s email address, but has yet to contact her.

Chris Baldwin, according to the team’s website, is TT1′s PR Director for Europe. Right, he’s not a manager, he’s a PR guy, a spin doctor. That says to me that the team wants to spin the James Stout “problem” and that they feel that the interview contains things that embarrass them.

Then I have to think, “This Southerland guy seems far too much like Lance Armstrong, in all the most negative ways.”

• As with Lance, everyone who speaks out against him is a liar, bitter and jealous because they have no talent.
• As with Lance, sure he’s done a few questionable things, but you should just ignore all that because he’s really an unappreciated Man of the People, doing such good that any evil is negligible.

Phil seems to be setting himself up as a messiah figure, the savior of all those with type 1 diabetes. Much like Lance Armstrong has set himself up as the messiah figure to all those with cancer. Much like, in 1978, Jim Jones had set himself up as messiah to his followers in The People’s Temple, leading them to the tragedy in Guyana, and giving us the original reference of “drink the koolaid.”

I ask you now, can it be concluded that much like Lance Armstrong, Phil Southerland is a bully, a sociopath and a coward?

It is my fond hope that other abused riders will take courage from James Stout, and come forward to tell their stories, too.

————–

You can also find this and future interviews, plus a lot more cycling related content, at Cyclismas.

James Stout Interview: Postscript

Part 1, Part 2, Parts 3 & 4, Postscript

When William Thacker, the publisher for Cyclismas, first contacted me about the James Stout interview, I hesitated, because who the hell is this Stout kid? Who ever heard of him? What’s he ever done? How much information will I possibly be able to find?

But looking into it a little I found the Stout / TT1 / Phil Southerland story to be intriguing, so I agreed.

I was told that James was ready for this, that he wanted to do it.

Overall, that was true. But James had bouts of uncertainty based on his legal situation.

There have been more gopher holes and protruding roots in the trail of this interview than ever should have been.

James’ issues with Phil Southerland and Team Type 1 first sidetracked and then nearly derailed publication of the interview on Cyclismas.

There were times when I thought very unkind things about James Stout, “flake” and “prima donna” were some of the kinder words that ran through my head when he crossed my mind.

But Thacker, calm, resourceful, peace making genius that he is, kept things running on track each time.

Much of my ill will and negative thoughts resurfaced and then re-submerged several times before everything was sorted out and publication was a go.

When we started talking I discovered that James is an excellent and interesting conversationalist. Talking with him was a truly interesting and rewarding experience.

Before I go on let me describe James to you: James is at once, mature and immature; humble and arrogant; wise and naive; grounded and flaky; stoic and a drama queen; tough and a sniveling bitch.

The interview took place via Skype connected to cell phone, America to Spain. The connection was not ideal. At times it was godawful atrocious.

While transcribing my Vaughters interview I might listen to a passage 2 or 3 times to make sure I understood something. Between the fuzzy connection and James accent I was listening to some snippets a dozen times or more; slowing them down, speeding them up, sometimes having to give up on them entirely and just leave them out.

For instance, during Part 3 James gave me the names of four friends. That snippet of recording took maybe 20 seconds to speak. But it took me nearly 10 minutes to piece together using a combination of what I already knew about James, what it kind of sounded like he said, and web searches, to get it all down correctly.

The digital noise break up was at its worst during the final ten minutes. During that stretch there was about five minutes worth of material that had to be left “on the cutting room floor” because the noise made them completely unintelligible.

That was frustrating, because James was sharing some really interesting personal stuff about school and what’s going on with him currently.

The one thing that made this interview both more difficult and more rewarding, was that when James speaks he is very “stream of consciousness”.

I’d sent James an outline containing the topics for each part of the interview. We’d start talking about one thing and he’d end up covering all or some of another topic. From his rambling I’d have more questions, questions that were not in my script.

So, I ended up with more material than I’d otherwise have gotten, but I also did a lot more editing and reorganizing, so that things would make the most sense and flow better.

For instance, the passage about the doctor who told James to play chess: That was covered early in the interview, then came up again with a lot more passion and at greater length much later. But it was stuck at the end of something it wasn’t really related to.

So, the second reference had to be moved up to beneath the first. I didn’t change any context or meaning, but without that change things would have been more jerky and repetitive.

There were a few things that surprised me.

First, how this behavior by Southerland seems to be a fairly broad problem, to the point that I have to call it a pattern of abuse.

That continues to be a surprise for me, because I really liked the notion of TT1 and I’d read some nice things about Southerland. It made it hard, at first, to take James and Willem Van den Eynde’s claims seriously.

Second, how James really did not at all come across as angry and bitter and trying to cause trouble.

Third, how the others that we know of seem not only reluctant to talk, but outright fearful.

Finally, what a flaming, arrogant, prima donna, pain in the ass James can be at times, but at others seeming so humble, pleasant, and generally calm and together in the face of adversity.

There is another significant difference between this interview and the interviews I did with Bill Strickland and Jonathan Vaughters.

In those previous interviews I went in knowing or at least assuming quite a bit about the subject. I had an idea before things even got rolling about what I wanted to ask and where I wanted things to lead. I had some nugget of “truth” that I wanted to attain.

With the James Stout interview I went in having never heard of James before and even after doing my research I had no idea of what to expect. I didn’t know what the “nugget of truth” was going to be, I had no real aiming point beyond attaining James’ version of the story.

When I finished those previous interviews I had a feeling of accomplishment, of completion, to one degree or another. With this one, not so much. It feels like there’s more out there, more to know, more to learn. Not so much that I missed something or that James withheld something, but just that all the pieces haven’t come together yet.

Will they eventually? Will the story eventually feel like it’s complete? I really don’t know right now.

But, for all his flaws and for all the hassle and high blood pressure James has caused me, I believe that he is truthful and that his account of what’s happened to him is accurate within his understanding of it.

James Stout Interview: Part 3 and 4

Part 1, Part 2, Parts 3 & 4, Postscript

Part 3

Bz:

What was your personal performance like while on TT1, not the team’s, but just you? 

JS:

“I was part of the team that won the Race Across America, which is a massive achievement. I won a criterium race, I won a hill climb time trail. I raced Superweek. I raced a ton of races with TT1 in a support capacity and by myself.

“More than that we were able to make a huge impact on people with diabetes.

“I did a ton of athlete days, where I’d go to speak to kids with diabetes. Speak to adults with diabetes.

“I was the only one who was bilingual in Spanish and English, so I did a lot of work in Spanish speaking communities, where obviously income average is a lot lower than in a lot of White communities.

“And that’s as significant achievement for me, seriously, as winning bike races.

“If I can make one kid take a decent approach to their diabetes and not go blind, then that’s waaaaaaaay bigger than putting my wheel across the line in front of another dude.

“So, that was massive for me.”

Bz:

What was your position or role on the team, on and off the bike.

JS:

“I’d say I was more of a kind of . . . rolluer. I can go well in long races, I can go well in stage races.

“Yeah, stage races, longer hillier races. I like it when the weather’s groggy. More of that kind of thing, and certainly the criteriums, I’ve tried some longer time trials. But, longer stuff, rolling terrain, shitty gritty roads.

“I come from the United Kingdom, where our roads are just slow and dead. That’s what I’m used to doing.”

Bz:

Within the structure of the community outreach work, did you have a specific role in that, or did each rider or staff member have similar roles?

JS:

“For the outreach they’d send round the opportunities. We had to do outreach stuff, and we could volunteer.

“I was always really forthcoming in volunteering. Some of the guys saw it as a hassle. But, I loved doing it.

“So I was in the vanguard in that respect. I was able to do a lot of the outreach stuff. I never felt it was a burden. I was lucky enough to be able to do a lot of that.

“And like I said, with my Spanish speaking role, there were some things the other guys just couldn’t do.

“That was a big part of what I did for the team.”

Bz:

After January, when you couldn’t race any more, were you continuing to do outreach work?

JS:

“Yes, I was. Most times at my own expense, to the extent that I didn’t get reimbursed.

“Absolutely I was. I continue to do outreach work with diabetic people, here (in Spain – Bz), when I get a chance, because I care.

“I wasn’t doing it because it was a sponsor obligation. It wasn’t like I was sitting on the Shimano tent talking to people about how great their gears were.

“I was doing this because I don’t want any kid, eighteen years old, to be told, no you can’t, you have to play chess. You know? Bullshit. It’s not true.

“I want everyone to know that they can do what they want. Do to that I have to go out and impact them.

“So I do that here, now. I’m in Spain, I’m on my own, I have nothing to do with TT1. And if there’s a clinic or a doctor or an endocrinologist who will help me, then I’ll go. Because I really care.

“It’s not a sponsor thing, it’s not a professional athlete thing, it’s a James thing.

“I won’t stop doing that.”

Bz:

What was your relationship with your teammates? With staff? With managers?

JS:

“Really good!

“The soignuers were friends of mine, I got along with the guys who do the warehousing and that kind of stuff, with my teammates. We talked often and still do.

“If you look at my Twitter you can see that back and forth between me and a lot of the boys. They still email me to see how I’m doing. I’ve stayed with my teammates and babysat their children.

“Even now they say, “when you come back you’ll visit? You won’t be a stranger?”

“They’re my friends. They’re my good friends.

“I presume Phil terminated my contract. He certainly doesn’t seem to want to be my friend any more. So, I’m not sure I can consider him a close friend anymore.

“Aside from that, everyone I met through TT1 I would consider a friend. If I bumped into them on the street I’d say hello.”

Bz:

Were there any you were particularly close to?

JS:

“Bob Schrank, Dan Schneider, Jeff Bannink, Adam Driscoll.

“Those guys were like . . . I staid with Jeff for two weeks and he left his kids with me. You don’t do that unless you trust someone, right?

“Some of the best friends I have.

“Bob and Dan came and stayed with me this January in San Diego. I stayed with Bob before. Danny just sent me a care package of granola and peanut butter, because you can’t buy it in Spain.

“I’m really close to those guys.”

Bz:

Any you were particular NOT close to?

JS:

“Not really. There was no one I didn’t get on with.

“I’m a really firm believer that you shouldn’t go through life leaving a trail of enemies behind you. So, I try my utmost to . . . if someone isn’t my friend, then they’re just not my friend. They’re not necessarily my enemy.

“There’s no one who I would say I clashed with.”

Bz:

It must bother you on a personal level, the way things have gone bad.

JS:

“Yeah, it bothers me a lot on a personal level. I took a real hit.

“Only through working with Martin and Bruce (James therapist – Bz), he’s been helping with it on a personal level and just coming through it with my head screwed on right.

“On a personal level at first, it kicked me in the balls. I thought all my friends wouldn’t want to know me anymore. I thought someone would tell them something bad, or that I had done something terrible. But, credit to them, they’ve all taken the time to contact me and say, hey man you’re still my friend.

“That means a lot. That means a lot to me.”

Bz:

TT1 did not pay you for five months. Didn’t pay anything at all? Only paid part of what was owed?

JS:

“Nope, nothing. Absolutely zero. When I say not one penny, I mean not a single penny.”

Bz:

What about the insulin? Was that an instant cutoff? Or was it gradual?

JS:

“No, that was, ‘From date X we will no longer be giving free insulin to TT1 members.’”

Bz:

So that wasn’t just you? It was the entire team?

JS:

“It was only the people who weren’t getting paid. Because if you’re getting paid, you have health insurance.

“If you’re not getting paid, you don’t have health insurance.”

Bz:

People who had insurance had to get insulin through their insurance after this?

JS:

“Right. Correct. Which wasn’t a problem.”

Bz:

Which other riders were having problems with their visas? How many of you were there?

JS:

“I shouldn’t comment on other people’s visa situations.

“And I don’t know if they all weren’t getting paid or not. We never discussed that.”

Bz:

When they did finally terminate your contract it wasn’t over performance at all, but because of a tee shirt you wore to a party and a comment you made in your tweets?

JS:

“The reason they fired me was that I wore a tee shirt with the word ‘penis’ on it, and I retweeted something from Al Jazeera.”

Bz:

I think I remember seeing that. In the retweet you commented “no shit” or something like that.

JS:

“Yes, that’s it. That was considered sufficient to terminate my contract.”

Bz:

Had you butted heads with anyone on issues like this previously?

JS:

“I’d never heard of anything like that happening previously, and they’d never spoken to me about anything like that.

“I received a warning when I wore the tee shirt that said “penis”, and then my contract was terminated for twittering Al Jazeera.”

Bz:

It feels like there’s some amount of malice behind a lot of what happened to you and they way the situation was manipulated.

JS:

“It does.

“And it seems like I’m hiding some reason that they would hate me. If I am, then I’m hiding it from myself, because I just don’t know why. I don’t know what I did. I don’t know who I offended. I don’t know what I did wrong.

“That’s what upset me the most. Because no one will tell me.

“I mean wearing a tee shirt that says ‘penis’, it’s bullshit. It’s a drummed up excuse of the worst kind, and insult to my intelligence if they think I’d believe that’s a reason for terminating my contract.

“But I don’t know what else I did.”

Bz:

They claim that the tee shirt incident happened at a company event, but that was actually at a friend’s party and not related to work?

JS:

“That’s correct, it wasn’t at a TT1 function.”

Bz:

Was your health or your life ever in jeopardy due to lack of medication?

JS:

“Well, yeah, as I said, a week without your insulin and, as a diabetic, you’re about to go blind. A month without insulin and you’ll die.

“You can look up the effects of lack of insulin in Type 1 diabetics very easily on line, on Wikipedia or something and get more information

“Yes. If you don’t have insulin you’re life is very much at risk.”

Bz:

Ok, what about team ethics? This is a team that makes a very big deal of helping people with diabetes, of promoting proper care, treatment and testing. How do their actions toward you and toward Willem Van den Eynde mesh with the presumption that their mission is to help diabetics? 

JS:

“I have to say that it’s changed my conception of what their mission is, quite a lot. It doesn’t speak volumes about our mission to help people with diabetes.”

Bz:

How do they outreach to kids in Hispanic neighborhoods, then deny members of their own team medication?

JS:

“I wish I knew what the moral equivalent was, there. I wish I could understand how that tallies. I’m afraid I can’t explain it, because I don’t understand it.”

Bz:

It seems to be the antithesis of what TT1 stands for, but I guess there’s a lot of money to be had from public sympathy.

JS:

“I’m entirely in agreement with you.”

Bz:

At first I thought, well, maybe this is their way of maintaining control of people. But looking at it deeper, they didn’t really seem to be controlling you so much as simply shoving you down in the dirt.

JS:

“Yeah, it wasn’t a control thing, it was just a kind of, ‘we just want you to go away now’. And I don’t know why, like I said.

“I was training my ass off, I was constantly emailing them, here’s what I’m doing, how’s stuff with you, I was very communicative. I tried my best to be the model athlete.”

Bz:

Aside from this specific situation, what is the management system and the broader system of rewards and punishments like on TT1?

JS:

“There wasn’t really a system of rewards and punishments.

“People split prize money if you won races. Sometimes the issue was with organization with getting stuff where it needed to be on time and things were often delayed and such. But, I wouldn’t know how things ran on any other teams. So I wouldn’t know how to compare.”

Bz:

Did UCI have any hand in or knowledge of the situation and the conditions at TT1? Were they aware?

JS:

“They are aware of it, now.”

Part 4: Afterward

Bz:

I read that you’re type of diabetes isn’t “normal”. Sometimes your pancreas produces insulin and sometimes it doesn’t. So proper monitoring is even more critical?

JS:

“That’s correct, yeah. I’m very brittle about that, so I have to do a lot more testing than most diabetics.

“My diabetes came on late and my pancreas still sometimes kicks back with insulin. Which can be really dangerous. In the middle of the night it could kick out a huge insulin bonus and I could die in my sleep.

“I have to make sure that I’m always aware of what my blood-sugar is.”

Bz:

If you can’t monitor correctly and you have a surge of insulin, you could experience what they call a “hypo” (low blood-sugar) severe enough that you could die?

JS:

“That’s a hypo, yup, and that could happen to me, as it could to any diabetic, without monitoring.

“But that’s a side effect of too much insulin without proper monitoring.”

Bz:

Like if you took your insulin, then your pancreas kicked back in, and suddenly you have an unanticipated surge of insulin and an unexpected rapid drop in blood-sugar? Is that how it works?

JS:

“That’s correct, yeah. That’s something that more or less unique to my type of diabetes.

“So I have to make sure I have sugar with me all the time.

“I don’t have the luxury of not planning to always have . . . I always have a bag. Unless I’m riding, then I have gels in my pocket.

“But I can’t think, oh, I’m going to do a ride for five hours, I need 200 calories per hour so I need a thousand calories. I better have 400 extra, just in case something goes wrong.

“If I’m going for a walk, or I’m going to a cafe, I have my bag with two or three Dextrogels. I can never be apart from it.”

Bz:

Are you in school now?

JS:

“No. PhD studies aren’t like undergraduate studies. The credits don’t transfer. So eventually I’d like to get back to the U.S.”

Bz:

Are you riding for a team right now?

JS:

“Yes, I’m riding for Team Traveler right now. They’ve been kind enough to connect me with some kits and a bit of money. But it’s by no means a pro team.

“They’ve been really helpful in helping me get what I need to keep racing while I’m here.

“I’m very grateful to them.”

Bz:

I’ve heard that the UK’s cycling federation is heavily slanted against riders in any disputed matter. Have they been more hindrance than help?

JS:

“The British federation hasn’t been very helpful.”

Bz:

What of UCI’s role? Have they helped you at all?

JS:

“They have not returned any of the emails. So, no, in a word. They’ve chosen not to respond.”

Bz:

Did anyone, other than Martin Hardy, or any group advocate for you? IS there someone or some entity that normally would advocate for a rider under these circumstances or generally when there is difficulty for a rider with a team? Are you doing this all on your own?

JS:

“Apart from Martin and Bruce, and all the people Martin is connected me with, there’s my friends. My friend, Danna, who I spend a lot of time with here in Catalonia, people who give me advice, they’ve been great. But, in an official capacity, just Martin and the JD foundation that he’s a part of.”

Bz:

Now that you’re riding for Team Traveler, have you started racing again?

JS:

“Yeah, but when you haven’t raced and hardly slept for three months you really don’t have much form. But I’m getting back.

“I’ve been racing in France, I’ve been racing in Spain, been racing in Belgium.

“I just want to salvage something out of this season. I like racing my bike. I want to race my bike.”

Afterword

For me, this story began with James Stout. But it clearly extends well beyond James and even beyond Willem Van den Eynde. There are others. We know of some of them, but none except James have been willing to step forward. Fear keeps them silent.

What concerns me is that as with crimes centered on abuse, whatever does get reported, whatever may see the light of day, is almost always just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

So, I wonder, how many more like this are there? And will any of them take some measure of courage from James and step forward themselves?

Bikezilla

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You can also find this and future interviews, plus a lot more cycling related content, at Cyclismas.