Lance inspired me to want to ride again. He didn’t owe me anything otherwise.
Cycling is dirty. Guess what. Every single professional sport is. It’s just a matter of whether or not you feel like making peace with that and enjoying it for the entertainment that it is, or you want to be all ignorant-holier-than-all-preacher-man about it. Which in the end is a waste of your time. No one is perfect, except for me.
I’m not going to pretend I’m some morally superior person and condemn what people do. Who the fuck am I anyway? I’m not someone’s fucking judge and jury. You go your own way, I go mine. If you beat me in a bike race because you’re cheating and I’m not cheating, and that’s somehow proven to be the only reason why I lost, then you and I have a problem. Otherwise, it’s just your choice to cheat and my choice not to. We operate according to our own ethical codes until they intersect.
I’m not the crusader for everyone else’s ethical intersections. You need to wave your own flag. If you’ve been wronged and you fail to stand up for yourself, then you’re either hiding something, or a fool. Either way you’re exacerbating the situation. You’re the real problem.
Lance wasn’t a Los Angeles Laker raping women in hotel rooms or a Baltimore Raven obstructing justice in a murder trial. Maybe if he was, he could still be an American hero.
Go ride your bike
Nothing is any different today than it was ten, twenty, thirty years ago.
It’s all the same.
Go ride your bike.
chasing 1:20 
A lot has been said about the Lance situation over the past week, and I've thought a lot, weighing in both sides of the coin. It wasn't until I finished up a ride last night that things finally all made sense to me. Lance is probably one of the most physically gifted atheletes of our time, the sort of natural engine that made him excell at any sport. Just because you are born with this gift, doesn't make you morally superior in any way, it just allows you to do things faster than other people. Unfortunately we live in a world where you get paid boatloads of cash to do things faster than other people, mostly because it drives advertising revenue and makes people spend more on products you use, so that they can emulate you. Again, this doesn't put you on any moral highground as a human being, but it does gain you a certain level of notoriaty, fame and wealth. Now here is where things get interesting. Lance gets cancer and wins 7 Tours, making him both a shining hope for people with serious illnesses and a sports demigod all at once.
First there is the cancer Lance. The one that is a beacon of light for ailing people with this dibilitaing disease. Livestrong spends millions on (suposed) cancer research and is probably one of the leading charities for this cause. Obviously this makes Lance a hero and inspiration for a lot of people.
Then there is the cycling Lance. On the surface, a great competitor and ambassador for the sport. But lets face it, behind that guise there was some serious cheating going on. Not only did he crush his opponents, he got greedy and won 7 Tours, using for all we know, seedy and underhanded tactics. He was at war, and won at any cost, destroying the lives of many other great cyclists in the way, including his own teamates. His win at all costs persona tainted the sport and perpetuated the doping era.
Here was a man who, by his own natural talents coulds have won a Tour or two and been a teflon figure of morality on and off the bike. Instead he took a darker route for his fame, cheating the best way he knew how and rubbing everyones faces in it 7 friggin times. His own meglomania is his greatest vice, the thing that made him the greatest also left a path of destruction. Love him or hate him, he is no prince, no angel, he got to the top the backs of the bruised, so put your idol worship aside and appreciate that many men who achieve greatness are not necessarily great.
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Lance couldn't have won any tour on his own natural talents. He would have been trumped handily by a doper.
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