My New Hero

As Paige can attest, I have been a staunch supporter of Lance Armstrong over the years, including during his 7 Tour de France wins.  I was adamant that he rode clean.  I mean really, as he says all the time, he has had over 500 drug tests during his career and was always clean.  I believed it.

Well, now the US Anti-doping Agency is going after him and hard.  And I still believed in him.  Well, right up until this news came out.  It's not just that two doctors and a trainer from his team were banned for life.  Had it just been that bit of news with no substance I might have set it aside.  But when you read the article...um.  

Just as a for instance:

• “Dr. Ferrari developed a distinctive mixture of testosterone and olive oil to be administered under the tongue to assist in recovery during races and training,” USADA said in its announcement. “Ferrari also advised riders on the use of the banned oxygen enhancer erythropoietin with detailed instructions regarding clearance times, how the EPO drug test worked and how to avoid detection of the drug.”

And for good measure:

• “Dr. Ferrari developed detailed training schedules for riders which included coded symbols designating when EPO should be used and the amount of the drug to inject."

So...what this is telling me is that Lance Armstrong had a Dr. on his team all those years that he was winning.  And this Dr. was insanely good at telling Lance exactly how much EPO or testosterone to take and when exactly to take it in order to make sure that it was clear of his system when he was drug tested.

I told Paige last night that I finally admit that Lance Armstrong is a cheat.

Good news is that today I have found my new hero.  I choose to believe in him now and his words.  Bradley Wiggins is saying all the right things in a way that Lance never did.

Please let it be true...I can't take another cycling cheat in my life.