I've pondered on writing a post like this for the past few months, and now that it seems the dust has settled, I think it's time for it to see the light of day.

Armstrong

So many of my friends, patients and clients have asked me: “so what is your opinion about Lance and the whole doping thing?”  Each time, I've given them the same answer: I personally believe he's guilty as hell.  A few people got into the whys and the hows of it all, but rarely did anyone care except to parrot the oft heard “he never tested positive” and “he's passed more than 500 tests.”

Hrumph.

How do I really feel, now that it's all said and done?

Mixed emotions?

I've long held the belief that Lance is a lying scumbag cheater.  However, during the Federal Investigation into his cheating, I was more perturbed that the country was wasting taxpayer dollars to go after something that clearly should be left in the hands of the sport's national governing bodies (USAC and USADA.)  When the federal case was dropped and the USADA case began, I finally began to think that we'd see light at the end of the tunnel.

Wrong.

As of Friday, Lance had declined to take his case to arbitration (after a failed legal challenge in, of all things, federal court)  resulting in a ban and expulsion of all results from 1998 on.  It was at that point that I realized we'd probably never hear the details of the evidence against him, or the system he used to dope and beat the testing.  What did I feel about the verdict and subsequent end of the case?

  1. Conflicted
  2. Relieved
  3. Irritated

Why?

Conflicted: Here we have a guy who spent his life racing bikes, built a cancer charity, raced bikes some more, and was finally exposed as having cheated to get where he was.  Yes, his Livestrong foundation may be a reputable charity that does good in the world, but having someone like him as a figurehead is a rough reconciliation for me.

Relieved: It's over, the punishment has been meted out and the chips will continue to fall where they may.

Irritated: I'd REALLY like to know how he did it and how he got away with it.

To make that decision, I had to go back a long way to when I really started following pro cycling and how it shaped things now.

TT position demonstrating diaphragmatic breathingThe past

Back when I started watching Lance in le Tour I had little to no understanding of the doping practices of the time.  I was just another casual American cyclist watching an American dominate “the world's hardest race.”

As  I learned more in the fields of exercise physiology, pharmacology, biology and biochemistry, I started to realize what I was actually seeing.  After hearing the reported evidence, I started to realize what I was actually seeing.  After listening to Floyd come clean, I started to realize what I had seen.  I began to do a little research, to dig up what I could on doping science and how it affected America's greatest cyclist.  Those searches solidified my opinion.

Damnable evidence

  • There were the adverse testosterone ratio tests early on in 1996 that USAC didn't do anything about.
  • There was the 1999 samples: nearly a half dozen of them, tested and found positive for EPO during “scientific experimentation.”  Oddly, there was no B sample available and since it was research, no sanction.
  • There was the 1999 backdated Therapeutic Use Exemption for cortisone.  Supposedly he had a huge saddle sore that needed treatment (he could have just looked at my guide to treating saddle sores….)
  • There was the 2001 positive for EPO in the Tour de Suisse that was allegedly covered up by the UCI after a hefty “donation” from Armstrong.
  • There was the “showergate” incident in the 2009 Tour during which Lance forced a UCI doping chaperone to wait outside for half an hour while he “showered.”
  • There was the alleged transfusion equipment found in the Astana hotel trash during the '09 Tour.
  • There was the alleged blood manipulation as exposed by the Bio Passport.
  • There are the dozen eye-witnesses that were deposed as part of the USADA case (which seem to include Zabriskie, Vande Velde, Vaughters, Landis, Hamilton, Hincapie, Andreu and Leipheimer.)
  • There's the small fact that pretty much every podium that Lance stood on the top of was filled with suspected or convicted dopers, and he *supposedly* beat them all.  Clean.  *snicker*

In short, there was way too much evidence to turn the other cheek to.

So let's get back to it….how do I feel about the punishment and close of the case?  Was I conflicted?  Relieved?  Irritated?  I think the answer lies in a little of each.  Maybe even a little disappointed that it took THIS long for it to finally be finished.

I guess all we can do is wait and see what the fallout is.  I have a distinct feeling this is not completely over….