Warning! I’m about to grab the third rail of the cycling world. My opinions and my opinions only follow. I have no basis beyond my own feelings to give the following commentary. And I’ll welcome all civil feedback. Ride on!
As if I really had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting this thought into a “tweet” in under 160 characters. I tried. I swear. But the topic’s too big to be handled there short of a few quips. I had a lot of time to think about Landis this weekend as, for some reason, his face and name kept coming up in a recent trip with SHARE up to Idyllwild for some fun in the dirt.
(Not-So-Quick sidebar, I’d been up to Idyllwild like 10+ years ago, but forgotten about it. I was reminded by a good friend today that I wasn’t actually a first-time visitor this weekend, but I can damn sure promise you I didn’t have as much fun as I did this time. Many thanks to Brendan Collier at Siren Bicycles for showing us what we’d undoubtably missed if not for his supreme knowledge of all the fun stuff that goes back and forth and up and down like a beautiful ribbon in the wind in the Idyllwild mountains. And to Mary Collier, Brendan’s wife and legend in her own right for getting about 50 folks into a very cool movie theater to show us Ride the Divide. Some for the first time. Me for the second-and-even-better time. And to the locals of Idyllwild for being cool and letting us come share what you have in your backyard. Oh yeah, and the cool chainsaw gargoyle–way better than the bear!)
OK. Out with it.
So Landis. Oh yeah. Landis. I’ll start by saying this, no matter the drugs, mechanical advantages, endless hours available to do nothing but train, soigneurs, Wheaties, and I-Don’t-Care-What, you give any of the pro peloton, I believe each and every athlete is a competitor that’s either gifted or worked their asses off (or both) and it’s unlikely the general population has a snowball’s chance in (wait, I already used that in this post) shot in this world of getting into that peloton and competing against them. So I give them their due.
But…
But when I’m out riding my ass off and suffering sans any support whatsoever, I’d like to think my inner athlete and given ability has a chance of making a run at something beyond a run for groceries on my bike in a way that’s clean and free of any dope. And I know this is the case. I’ve suffered my fair share. And I know plenty of other riders that ride with their gift and their dedication to the fun of the sport and whip my ass on any day of the week. All of us clean. And that’s fun. Hell, I’d even say it’d still be fun if we threw a hundred dollars on the finish line and winner takes all. Clean. Getting the clean theme?
So, when Landis came up positive a few years ago I was A) not surprised and B) decidedly anti-big corporate racing from that point forward. While I don’t believe it’s purely the money that corrupts and causes some (most?) to venture to the needle, I do believe it’s a hell of a motivator to fall on the horse doctor’s good box of needles and potions.
I can’t say with certainty that everyone in the pro peloton dopes, but here’s what I can say–I believe no less than 75% do, and if I give 75% I have to give 100%. And here’s why. This *is* a team sport. And as much as Johan or Bjarne or anyone else that tries to maintain the facade of plausible deniability acts like the one guy on the squad that “suddenly” comes up positive was a dirtbag no-good son-of-a-bitch, they, in my opinion, only act this way because it’s the only option they have if they want to keep the wheels spinning. But the logistics don’t work out. As I said, it’s a team sport. They eat, sleep, shit, drink and ride together. For over 3/4 of the year. Do you really think it makes a lick of sense that when someone comes up positive the directors and teammates act as if it was a hidden heroin habit being administered between the toes? Come on!
Obviously I don’t buy the denial that happens by the team and sponsors. Add to that the vicious nature of the process post-positive. One day you’re the guy carrying the maillot jaune and the next the lanterne rouge is a hundred miles ahead. Add the need to mitigate any risk to the rest of the squad and you’re completely ostracized in under 24 hours. Meanwhile, you know you did it. You know the team knows you did it. But like a good lieutenant in the mob, you suck it up and assert your laughable innocence and do the time.
Now I’ve never been in the pro peloton. Hell, my best shot of getting into it was somewhere between racing the back roads of my hometown as a kid and 20 years later waiting in line to have Armstrong sign a book for me. So I can’t say with certainty that there’s definitely doping and this is definitely the way it works. But there’s one thing I can say, there are certain athletes in the sport of pro cycling that are such ridiculous “outliers” in their results and when you couple this together with the rampant doping that is being discovered (and you believe doping does provide an advantage) then you absolutely have to question, in an unbiased manner, the results of the one that gets to stand atop the podium consistently. Once. Fine. Couple of times. Maybe. 7 times. We have a problem.
I read the other day, perhaps by Bill Strickland (a journalist I actually respect) that regardless of which side of the doping allegations you stand on, there’s sufficient evidence to make you feel comfortable for having taken that side. I say that’s mostly true. The only problem I have with it is consistent outperformance by a single individual over a sustained period of time. It’s simply illogical to me and the data of life supports that this unlikely to happen. And as Judge Judy says, if it doesn’t make sense, then it’s not true! Especially in a sport where we’re using primarily human power and widely available strategy banks (not many secrets on a given day).
So, getting on with it. What about Floyd?…
While I think Landis and anyone else that cheats to win is an absolute asshole, I get the pressure. And it’s not just pressure to cheat. Make no mistake about it, it’s pressure to be an asshole. You have to be one in order to abuse man’s most beautiful mechanical creation to this type of outcome. And while I think what Landis did during his trial (including his outright useless and uncalled for attacks on Lemond) are issues he’ll have to deal with internally for a very long time (and I do wish he finds peace in himself and forgiveness from those he hurt), I completely run towards his message and admission of guilt.
And here’s why…
If you truly care about the sport and you truly want the doping to be out of the sport, you have to create an environment whereby admission is welcome with open arms. Where the guilty can come for confession and not be vilified for having done so. (That’s not to say all consequences go unpaid.) While I think Landis sucks for cheating when he actually could race, I commend him as a near hero for bringing light where it needs shining. (God help both of us he’s lying now.) If you want more of the types of admissions by the people that were there, the only people that really know, the only people that can actually rescue the sport, then you have to welcome and cooperate with Landis et al. Running him to the town square and burning him at the cross won’t do a thing for securing more admissions. Can you imagine an egomaniac like a 7 time TDF winner actually watching what’s happening to Landis now and thinking for a second of following in his steps? Even though that person could forever change the state of pro cycling for the better? I sure as shit wouldn’t. In fact, I couldn’t think of a worse environment to solicit additional confessions.
So while Landis might be a bad guy for what he did, I think you have to, at the very least, take his acquisitions very seriously, sift the facts from the bullshit, and get on them in the same way a forensic scientist solving a crime might. Opinions aside. Mine included. Put the timeline and facts together and start poking holes in it or building out the case.
So all this said, I applaud Landis for coming out. I don’t forget what he did, but I do forgive him for reacting to the pressures of the sport in a way most of us probably would just the same–he is human–and I hope he’s “found his way” forward. And if he wants to share a bottle of Jack Daniels with me, I’d gladly split my bottle with him now.
Your nuts may have shriveled up to raisins now, but what’s left are undoubtably made of steel, so thanks Floyd!
Final note on Bahati. I thought it was a horrible idea when they brought him aboard as I figured this would go the same direction as Tyler’s case did, but I understood the pressure Bahati was probably reacting to. (Landis *did* have money in one form or another they didn’t.) But I had a real problem with the conflict between what Bahati was telling children in one message and in the other wink of the eye, you bring on a cheating liar to your team. I get the sense that this Landis issue puts pressure on Bahati’s racing team, but I can say this, they’re better off without Landis. I’m personally more likely to write a check to the foundation now than I was when they brought Landis aboard. So to that team, I say hang on, grit it out (I’m sure it’s tough) and you’ll be better for having done so.
