Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Lance

A lot is being written about Lance Armstrong. As USADA confirmed that he is a doper and stripped all his titles. It is tough for me to feel bad for the man anymore. He was one of my heroes. I was a Lance guy until the end. I should have known what was coming down the pike. I kept hoping that his great exploits would be doping free. The climbs up Ventoux, Huez, the dominating time trials, and the parades down the Champs Elysees with the American flag.

We can all say well everyone else did it! Does that make it right? No. No one should have been doping. The UCI could have done more, the athletes could have done more, the fans could have demanded more. Instead everyone went all in on this farce of an era. There were only a few voices going against the grain. We cannot understand the decisions that all of these men made to dope. If I had that money dangled in front of me and all I needed to do was blood dope to be rich and famous, who know what I would have done. Maybe I would have turned it down or not.

All we can hope is that the peloton is clean and that the new cyclists do not need to make those horrible decisions. Of course there will always be idiots. How can there not be, the only hope is that the non dopers outweigh the dopers. We need to question more as well. We all think Wiggins was clean but how does he dominate from the Volta ao Algarve all the way into The Tour de France and into the Olympics. He had no valley just peaks throughout the season. Am I skeptical? Yes I am, sadly. I hope in a few years that it goes away but for now I will not get excited over these Champions.

Alas, the other shoe dropped and we knew it was all a farce. No one should feel bad for him anymore. He refuses to apologize to anyone for his wrongdoings. He should have confessed when he had the chance. Now there are news reports that he wants to confess. Too little, too late. That also must be a mirage. He has too much too lose to admit to doping. What would be the point this late in the game?

Give credit where credit is due, what he did with Livestrong to give cancer patients hope is a great thing and gave cancer survivors a sense of community. That we cannot take away. What we can take away is how much of the money that is funneled to Livestrong is taken away for administrative costs. How much was used to finance Lance's lavish lifestyle?

What I can do is continue to ride my bike. Love to ride my bike. Enjoy the community of cycling that I am a part of. I have made great friends that I never thought I would. I love this new world and want to continue to grow in this world.

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