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A review by alisarae
The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton
I'm not into ball sports, but I love individual/endurance sports. And what I follow outside of olympic season is cheating scandals. Tour de France, the documentary Icarus about Russian doping, Project Oregon... it leaves me with a squeamish weight in my stomach about the depravity of humanity.
I was still pretty young when all of the Lance Armstrong news broke, but even I had seen that coming. 7 Tours in a row? Come on. But I was too young to pay attention to all the details. Reading this book shocked me. Tyler Hamilton, Armstrong's former US Postal teammember, lays out everything they did and comes completely clean. The story builds from Hamilton's early career, his time learning from the pro about how pro's did it, leaving US Postal, getting so tired of living a complete sham of a life, to the breaking point when he told all to US federal investigators (who, sadly, dropped their case against Armstrong... the announcement was followed by sizable donations from the Livestrong foundation to govt agencies but we already knew he's a slimeball).
Throughout the book, Hamilton asks the reader if we wouldn't make the same decisions that he did, if we had been in his place. It's true, we probably would have. I have such a strong phobia of needles that if I had to choose between the career of my dreams + needles and a different career, I would choose a different career. But if I didn't have that phobia, I would be Hamilton. His choice to tell the truth, walk a path of forgiveness and honesty, and then slip away into a remote life in Montana, is what I would have chosen as well. I have so much respect for this man.
Armstrong on the other hand.... the man is a sociopath. Zero empathy, zero regrets, zero loyalty. Never forgets a perceived slight and goes to extreme attempts to repay them. Everyone who is not him is a "F--ing loser". Sound like another internationally known sociopath to you? That's funny, because Hamilton and his former wife jokingly compare Trump and Armstrong, and this book was published in 2012. Because Hamilton left US Postal before Lance's final Tours, we may never know the full extent of what Lance was doing to cheat, but he was obviously doing something a little more than everyone else. That doesn't disgust me as much as his bold lies to fellow teammates, his need to control everything and everyone around him, his arrogance, and complete disregard for his friends (it was this that ultimately lead to his undoing). Amazingly, Hamilton doesn't come across as bitter when he describes his sour history with Armstrong. He has more grace than I would.
Ultimately this book is the embodiment of "The truth shall set you free." You can feel the weight lift from your shoulders when it reaches the truth-telling part; imagine how free and light Hamilton must feel now.
I listened to the audiobook and it was good. But the book has 2 authors and one narrating voice, and it was impossible to tell whose perspective was being told at the moment.
I was still pretty young when all of the Lance Armstrong news broke, but even I had seen that coming. 7 Tours in a row? Come on. But I was too young to pay attention to all the details. Reading this book shocked me. Tyler Hamilton, Armstrong's former US Postal teammember, lays out everything they did and comes completely clean. The story builds from Hamilton's early career, his time learning from the pro about how pro's did it, leaving US Postal, getting so tired of living a complete sham of a life, to the breaking point when he told all to US federal investigators (who, sadly, dropped their case against Armstrong... the announcement was followed by sizable donations from the Livestrong foundation to govt agencies but we already knew he's a slimeball).
Throughout the book, Hamilton asks the reader if we wouldn't make the same decisions that he did, if we had been in his place. It's true, we probably would have. I have such a strong phobia of needles that if I had to choose between the career of my dreams + needles and a different career, I would choose a different career. But if I didn't have that phobia, I would be Hamilton. His choice to tell the truth, walk a path of forgiveness and honesty, and then slip away into a remote life in Montana, is what I would have chosen as well. I have so much respect for this man.
Armstrong on the other hand.... the man is a sociopath. Zero empathy, zero regrets, zero loyalty. Never forgets a perceived slight and goes to extreme attempts to repay them. Everyone who is not him is a "F--ing loser". Sound like another internationally known sociopath to you? That's funny, because Hamilton and his former wife jokingly compare Trump and Armstrong, and this book was published in 2012. Because Hamilton left US Postal before Lance's final Tours, we may never know the full extent of what Lance was doing to cheat, but he was obviously doing something a little more than everyone else. That doesn't disgust me as much as his bold lies to fellow teammates, his need to control everything and everyone around him, his arrogance, and complete disregard for his friends (it was this that ultimately lead to his undoing). Amazingly, Hamilton doesn't come across as bitter when he describes his sour history with Armstrong. He has more grace than I would.
Ultimately this book is the embodiment of "The truth shall set you free." You can feel the weight lift from your shoulders when it reaches the truth-telling part; imagine how free and light Hamilton must feel now.
I listened to the audiobook and it was good. But the book has 2 authors and one narrating voice, and it was impossible to tell whose perspective was being told at the moment.