Floyd Landis speaks...

[AMP]

Actually, I'm proud of Landis. I believe him when he says that he has to get it off his conscience. He's lately been working with underprivledged at risk kids, and it's my belief that he knows he can do no good with them unless he quits lying. And, trust me, he's about to be crucified publicly. Much like Greg LeMond who spoke out against blood doping and has lost most of his business and been dragged into ruinously expensive lawsuits. I'm proud of LeMond too.

In the AMGEN Tour, Dave Zabriskie is wearing the yellow jersey and Levi Leipheimer is right at his heels. Two of the individuals Landis named. Folks are NOT going to be happy.

This month's copy of Bicycling magazine has Armstrong mentioned 60 times.

There is enormous money behind the scenes: Trek, Oakley, fi'zik, Radioshack...so many others.

Then we get to Lance's work with cancer research and his foundation. And we have to ask ourselves if the good that comes out of blood doping outweighs the bad. Incredibly tough moral/ethical landscape to navigate. But I also believe we MUST examine these issues; you and me, the ordinary people. And I insist that we must inform ourselves dispassionately: read, read, read; examine sources, and think, reason our way through.

On Sunday I stood with crowds in my small sweet town of Auburn as we watched the AMGEN tour race through. I whistled for Fabian Cancellara and team SaxoBank. I had tears in my eyes as I took in all the little children wearing jerseys and helmuts, dressed like their heroes to cheer the race, waving American flags.

Blood doping is the destruction of this sport and will ultimtley turn it into no more than pro wrestling.

BICYCLING MAGAZINE this month has an article about amateurs injecting steroids to win over a pair of socks. (Yeah, I know it's not the socks, it's the ego, but it's a compelling read.)

What gets me about blood doping is that a rider still has to train just as hard, and actually, can train harder and recover faster.
Should r-EPO be legalized? What will it take to level the playing field? Should there be two standards? One for riders who train naturally and one for those who use steroids and r-EPO?

Two months ago when I started to get back into cycling, I started reading and what I found sickened me. Try googling "blood doping, cycling." For once in my life I didn't shy away from what I didn't want to know, didn't want to hear. And this was one of those times I went from being a girl to being a woman. There is doping and it is terrible.

Getting back to Landis who "drank the kool aid," got caught, tried to bluster and lie, and utimately told the truth. Now watch the show as he gets his skin flayed off. Whoosh.

I'm such a coward I'm debating whether I can post this.

As Bob Newhart said, "I make a motion that we face reality."

[Biciclista]

AMP of course you can post !
Lance could have been a hero without the dope. Maybe he wouldn't have won so many times.

[TrekTheKaty]

Getting back to Landis who "drank the kool aid," got caught, tried to bluster and lie, and utimately told the truth. Now watch the show as he gets his skin flayed off. Whoosh.

I'm such a coward I'm debating whether I can post this.

As Bob Newhart said, "I make a motion that we face reality."

Excellent point. So maybe Landis shouldn't have been stripped of the TDF win. He beat all the other dopers fair and square. He just got caught because he was the winner.

I do realize that the whole sport is corrupt. I think the public was naive to think they could clean it up all in one year. I believe Lance is innocent, too. I was hoping he came back to prove he could race against all the "newer, cleaner" riders. But maybe it's all a joke on us.

I also experienced a local bike race, where there was a kids race during the intermission. Little boys and girls in their (at the time) Discovery "kits" throwing elbows just to get to the start line. How do we explain that to the kids? I don't know.

I'd go back to Nascar, but they just threw out Jeremy Mayfield. Apparently, there's more than moonshine and "black gold in them-there-hills".

[kacie tri-ing]

I am just posting again because I am still so upset!

[arielmoon]

Another article here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100520/...BvcnRsYW5kaXM-

"These guys coming out now with things like this from the past is only damaging the sport," McQuaid told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. "If they've any love for the sport they wouldn't do it."

"What's his agenda?" McQuaid said. "The guys is seeking revenge. It's sad, it's sad for cycling. It's obvious he does hold a grudge."

[ny biker]

I also experienced a local bike race, where there was a kids race during the intermission. Little boys and girls in their (at the time) Discovery "kits" throwing elbows just to get to the start line. How do we explain that to the kids? I don't know.

Same way you explain the baseball players. "They cheated because they were greedy and it's bad to cheat."

I worry more about the older kids who play sports and might be coerced by coaches to use steroids or otherwise conned into thinking they should use drugs.

[AMP]

Just got off the phone with my DH who was listening to the Jim Rome show on the radio (I love his show; he can translate ballsport talk so I don't sound like an idiot at any male/female social gathering. Excellent resource when no one lets you talk about horses or bikes. It's a sports call in show.)

Rome said that the wrath has already begun. He's felt it himself just by bringing doping up, not accusing anyone.

I really think that Landis knows everyone dopes, and initally felt that he shouldn't get picked on if everyone does it. Then I think he thought that because he saw how Armstrong has handled all the accusations, he could just keep denying.

His suspension is over. He could have kept his mouth shut, but like David Millar, he had to 'fess. No, he's not the class act that Millar was and he's in for a trouncing big time.

I think he thinks he deserves it. His father-in-law committed suicide during all the hoopla in '06.

There are getting to be many, many suicides and attempts in procycling. I think that these boys start out with the highest of aspirations and then succumb to "everybody's doing it." They can't take the mental pressure.

[SheFly]

Be careful about vindicating him for "fessing up". He's had PLENTY of opportunity for that before now - in the middle of a very publicized Tour in the US. In the supposed email (posted on DrunkCyclist), there is a line to the effect that he is trying to write down in a story, everything that has happened. To me, that screams book deal.

Don't get me wrong - I was a Tyler believer for over two years, and legitimately believed Floyd too. I just don't think that he should be let off the hook now - he lied to a lot of people, including his Mennonite parents. The timing and motives are, as McQuaid said, rather suspect.

SheFly

[kenyonchris]

Actually, I'm proud of Landis. I believe him when he says that he has to get it off his conscience. He's lately been working with underprivledged at risk kids, and it's my belief that he knows he can do no good with them unless he quits lying. And, trust me, he's about to be crucified publicly. Much like Greg LeMond who spoke out against blood doping and has lost most of his business and been dragged into ruinously expensive lawsuits. I'm proud of LeMond too.

Uh...wow. I'll bite.
Not for ONE MINUTE do I think he is doing it because he is lying awake at night worrying about his street cred with the poor kids. Sorry if that sounds cynical (more cynical than my original post). His timing, the inflammatory statements, the very poor manner in which he has staged this "confession" and the connected allegations are all incredibly suspect as to the validity of his motives.

[ny biker]

To hear the boys from Radio Shack tell it, Floyd is just pissed off because (a) Johan refused to give him a job and (b) he didn't get to race in the Tour of California this year.

Which brings me to my next point -- if you're going to accuse Lance and Johan of something, you'd better have your ducks in a row, because they are smart strategists with plenty of experience handling the media and plenty of good lawyers.

[smilingcat]

I'm too jaded... Let the soap opra continue and when the credits roll, we may have some thin truth.

Mr. Landis comes across more as a psychopathic liar in which even a seasoned police interogators and trained psychologist can't tell if the subject is telling the truth or not. I asked a veteran narcotics investigator about how to tell if a psychopathic liar is telling the truth or not. His reply was "LOL, when you figure it out, let us know"

soo Mr. Landis comments are non-sequitor at best. I wouldn't lose sleep over what he says.

[Selkie]

I never believed him, and I didn't think he was a good liar. But smilingcat is right, Mr. Landis seems to have issues...

The guy has disgraced himself in a very public way. If he's genuinely sorry, he will return the money.

I wonder if his next sporting event will be boxing Tanya Harding? Dancing with the Stars?

[Bike Chick]

I was such a fan of his at the Tour de France and really wanted to believe him. It was a storybook finish and I so wanted it not to be true even though my gut was telling me it probably was. Even last year at the Tour of Missouri, he was one of the riders I sought out after the race and still didn't want to believe it was true. Now he's acting like a spoiled little kid and showing his rear.

Am I just ignorant? I feel so betrayed by him, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, and on and on and on. What do we expect, though? When you dangle that much money and fame on a stick, athletes are going to be tempted to do whatever they can to grab it.

[Tri Girl]

What do we expect, though? When you dangle that much money and fame on a stick, athletes are going to be tempted to do whatever they can to grab it.

And that's exactly what's wrong with our society.
Meanwhile, teachers, police officers, nurses, etc get paid pennies and are the ones actually doing something worthwhile with their life (sorry, I don't think professional athlete's jobs are truly meaningful in a society).


Sorry- back to the original post (I'll step down from my soapbox).


Kenyonchris- I totally agree with you!! This was not about doing what's right- it's about his selfish agenda.