Lance Armstrong

       Last summer I wrote a post about Lance Armstrong and defended him and hating on Travis Tygart. Click HERE if you want to read what was written then. Since then, the truth has come out. I didn't watch the Opera interview of Lance coming clean, but now know that everything that he does is cold and calculated. I think that his only motivation in coming clean was to try to get some repentance so he can race again sometime in the near future. So far, every event that he has attempted to enter has refused to let him compete. This includes events such as a marathon and a swimming event. I find it to probably be the best punishment for him (Although loosing virtually all of his sponsors and possibly having to repay some of his legal winnings and competition bonus' has to sting as well). Someone who is soo dedicated to competing is now not allowed to compete even at the lowest levels, from what it seems. The biggest issue that I have with Lance was how he personally went after and publicly crushed the people that were actually telling the truth.

         The fact is, Lance Armstrong was a dominant cyclist in an incredibly dirty time in cycling. In those days, it seems like everyone was doping. I'm not saying that doping is ok, but you need to understand the context in which he was competing. This is proven in the fact that when the UCI stripped him of his victories for the Tour de France, there is no declared winner for those years. Meaning that the people who were the runner's up are not considered the new victors. Why? It's because everyone was doping and every single one of those who were right behind Lance were also suspected of doping in those years as well.

       I think that the cycling community is getting better about doping, and making it extremely difficult to cheat and not get caught. They now employ a testing procedure called DNA Passport (at least I think that's what it's called). Essentially what it is, is they no longer look for specific drugs or "masking agents" which hide the illegal drug use. Instead, they look for changes in the blood and urine samples that would show irregularities because a person is doping. It's way more sensitive of a test, and the proof that it's working is in the most recent races. The times are climbing back up to where they have been in years past (not counting the dirty times where the times were incredibly low).

    So why am I bringing all of this up now? Well, I was bored and surfing eBay the other day and saw someone selling some race wheels and they claimed that Lance had ridden and raced on the wheels. This got the conversation started with my wife Shawna and I again about what Lance had done. I had saved a blog post from a pro athlete to Lance that was penned right after his confession. I had planned on writing this back then, but then I got my bowel obstruction and it was forgotten until the other day. So here's the blog post, enjoy the read.
     It should also be noted that I need to give Travis Tygart some props for sticking to his guns and fighting the fight against a huge mountain. Travis knew the truth, and although no one wanted to believe it, he was willing to stand up and take a stand. For that, he is to be truly commended.



http://asklaurenfleshman.com/journal/2013/01/17/a-letter-to-lance-armstrong-a-fellow-pro-athletes-plee/