"Known cheater takes up sport most associated with cheating" - Fans react as Barry Bonds gets serious about cycling post-MLB career

San Francisco Giants legend Barry Bonds is undoubtedly one of the finest yet divisive players in major league baseball history. Although he's the all-time home run king, besides holding the single-season record, he wasn't voted by writers into the Hall of Fame due to his alleged PED use in the later part of his career.

Earlier this week, SFGATE revealed that Barry Bonds has been posting impressive numbers as a cyclist around the Bay Area, having taken up the sport as his passion after retiring from baseball. However, MLB fans responded with snide remarks on social media about his achievements.

Barry Bonds is now putting up mind-bending stats as a cyclist around the Bay Area byu/JimmyMcGinty24 inbaseball

SFGATE reported that Barry Bonds has logged over 2100 bike rides since taking up the sport in 2010. According to Strava, a fitness app that monitors workouts, Bonds has spent more than 150 full days on his bike and covered enough distance to make two trips around the world and a further 3700 miles.

"It’s really nice. I love it,” Bonds told SFGATE. “It’s just about inspiring people to work out. That’s all it is. Like, you just say you like it, give them their little thumbs-up, and it’s great. You know you’re rooting for somebody and everybody to stay in good shape."

Fans connected his passion to cycling with his alleged steroid use as they posted their reactions on Reddit.

"Known cheater takes up sport most associated with cheating," wrote one.

Comment byu/JimmyMcGinty24 from discussion inbaseball

"Trying to improve his image by associating with a sport that never had any doping scandals," another posted sarcastically.

Comment byu/JimmyMcGinty24 from discussion inbaseball

"He's gonna enter the cycling HOF before the baseball one," another fan posted.

Comment byu/JimmyMcGinty24 from discussion inbaseball

Fans also linked the home run champion with tainted cyclist Lance Armstrong.

"Him and Lance are going to get along great," one fan said.

"Giving Lance a run for his money," said another.

"Going after Lance Armstrong's PED record," another commented.

Lance Armstrong won the iconic Tour de France seven times before he was stripped of his titles after an investigation in 2012 revealed that he had used PEDs throughout his career.

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Astonishing cycling achievements of Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds holds the MLB home run record with 762 dingers over his career (Image Source: IMAGN)

Barry Bonds has trimmed down his physique since he began cycling after calling time on his professional career. He has also set some impressive achievements on his bike, just like he did on the baseball field.

At the age of 53, Bonds covered a 0.27 mile stretch at Mill Valley in 31 seconds, tying the fastest time among 120,000 attempts by 22,000 people. At 58, he set the sixth-fastest time on a 0.68-mile stretch on Shoreline Highway in Tamalpais Valley.

Six weeks after celebrating his 59th birthday, Barry Bonds set the fastest time of 69 seconds on a 0.65-mile stretch on Mill Valley’s Blithedale Avenue. The record has been smashed by two seconds since then, but Bonds still holds second place.