August 09, 2006
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The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Floyd’s neither stupid nor immoral
Editor:
After reading about the leak, the tests, the excuses, etc., etc., it all boils down to one thing. Whom do you believe? I choose to believe in Floyd Landis.

Someone could have made an error marking the samples or someone could have slipped him something in a drink or his IV the night before. Anything could have happened between the time the sample was taken and the time it was tested.

All riders know they will be tested if they win a stage. A guy would have to be the dumbest rider in the Tour to dope up knowing he plans to go for it, as Floyd did in Stage 17. Floyd is not stupid and his family upbringing tells me his morals are too high for any of this to have happened.

Gina Lemons
Bluff City, Tennessee

Lose the rose-colored glasses
Editor:
So a recent poll finds that 50 percent of Americans believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction despite all evidence to the contrary, including Bush-administration administrations. This has disturbing and dangerous implications for our democracy.

A reading of Monday’s letters show that many VeloNews.com readers are even more gullible or deep in denial, which at least isn’t as disturbing or dangerous.

It’s just damn dumb.

When a rider, even a nice American boy like Floyd Landis, tests positive for banned drugs after a unbelievable, incredible and inhuman performance, why does anyone have any trouble accepting the obvious? Doesn’t anyone remember what those words really mean?

As a public service, VeloNews.com could compile a list of the strident denials and plausible excuses riders made after testing positive, followed by their later admissions of guilt. Maybe then a few pair of rose-colored glasses would get set aside.

Steve Elliott
Avery, California

Something smells funky here
Editor:
We hear it all the time: It would be lunacy for a star in the spotlight — not to mention the captain of a team still reeling from the doping scandal surrounding its fallen helmsman, Tyler Hamilton — to cheat. Right?

Is this naive thinking? Heroes let us down all the time, even smart ones. But for the moment, there’s still a common-sense case, something just beyond the reach of the cynics (for now). Floyd himself put the facts best in his August 7 statement: “I won the Tour of California, Paris-Nice and the Tour de Georgia,” he reminds us. Testing occurred throughout, presumably. He goes on to point out that he was repeatedly tested during the Tour de France, both blood and urine, and only one test comes back bad.

And that test doesn’t come back iffy, as though some elaborate cloak Floyd and his accomplices used to hide his activities slipped that day. No, that one test comes back off-the-charts high, with a blazing red “synthetic” flag to boot, as though the guy were a doping novice on the verge of an overdose. The news is that Floyd’s most brilliant day was also his dirtiest.

I tend to reject conspiracy theories outright, but here, my cynical side smells something funky. If an unscrupulous lab worker or race official sought to sabotage a clean-riding American, how better to do it? Pick the one day when his effort seemed superhuman, supernatural even, and taint him then, knowing the news would go down more easily if it were attached to his Stage 17 display.

Is this naive thinking, or desperate cynicism? Hero worship gone over to silliness? All of the above, most likely, and all justified. Either my sport or my cycling idols are broken, badly, and I need answers. Now.

Michael Locher
New Haven, Connecticut

Don’t kid yourself in the name of hero worship
Editor:
This isn’t a conspiracy, friends. Floyd tested positive. Every top contender for this year’s Tour was barred from competing because of a doping investigation. Phonak has a history of doping violations. Maybe the reality is that the Tour can’t be seriously approached without doping, because you can’t win without doping. It seems to me that the answer is either to allow everyone to dope or to eliminate it completely, and that means random out of competition testing and serious sanctions against the teams, their managers and their doctors, as well as the riders.

Some years ago, Canada had to deal with the Ben Johnson scandal, after Johnson lost his Olympic gold medal in track because he tested positive for steroids. Then we were treated to the other racers (Carl Lewis comes to mind) spouting pious statements deploring steroid use, proclaiming that, of course, no American sprinter would do such a thing. It came out later that in fact they were all on steroids and the U.S. powers-that-be had repeatedly suppressed positive drug tests so that their top track athletes could compete.

Just what do you think has been going on in baseball and football? You think these 340-pound linemen just eat a lot? Take a look at pictures of Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, et al, at the beginning of their careers, and then look at their pictures 10 years later – it’s quite enlightening.

Drug use is rampant in professional sports and cycling is no different. Fans look the other way because we want to watch the spectacle and we want to have heroes. We’re kidding ourselves.

Warren S. Fullerton
Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada

Conspiracy theory of the day
Editor:
If Eddy Merckx could place a bet at 75-1 odds that Floyd Landis would win the Tour, how many others would be putting down “real” money? I am sure that there are plenty of non-cyclists — gamblers, bookies, the press, to name a few — who would profit greatly from the fall of the yellow jersey, especially one who was potentially a long shot.

It would not be a big surprise if money, not synthetic drugs, were the real culprit in this sordid affair. Unfortunately, we will probably never learn the real truth — and by the looks of it, Landisand the sport are going to be the big losers while someone else smiles all the way to the bank.

Thor Larsen
San Luis Obispo, California

See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya
Editor:
Try being a father who gets head-speared by his 21-month-old daughter (thanks Zidane), a dad who made the effort to teach his 3-year-old that the winner of the Tour was Floyd Landis. My heart says Floyd is clean, but I’ve already taped over the 2006 Tour.

This family’s flirtation with watching the fringe sports of cycling and soccer are over, and we’re back to watching football (the real kind), golf, NASCAR and Indy racing. Good thing my girls already know the names Favre, Tiger, Vijay and Danika. Maybe the UCI will get their act together by the time my grandkids are ready to become fans.

Greg Patrick
Carson, California

Another wave bye-bye
Editor:
I have enjoyed cycling as a rider and spectator with a passion since I was a teen-ager. I have eagerly read all of the coverage your magazine has given the professional sport and watched all the television coverage of the sport that I could. It’s just too bad that I have come to the basic conclusion that I’ve been a sucker all of these years.

Floyd Landis has been the straw to break the proverbial camel’s back, but I should have seen the light years ago. Professional riders at the highest level of what could be such a wonderful sport have simply shown themselves to be a bunch of liars and prima donnas. It started with the ridiculous protests they used to pull off concerning wearing helmets while they raced and it ended with American riders (and their fans) making up pathetic excuses and conspiracy theories as to why they were caught cheating.

I don’t have any great ideas about what can save this sport because I honestly believe that the majority of the riders and team managers at the ProTour level are only trying to save face when they talk about doping controls. The riders and their managers will do whatever it takes to succeed, and they don’t think that anything they are doing or have done is wrong. Shame on them and shame on us for being duped for so long.

I wish your magazine good luck, but I won’t be reading any of your articles about professional cycling. That would be giving these riders and their management more credit than they deserve.

Andrew Cameron
Raleigh, North Carolina

Forget doping, we want a good race!
Editor:
I have been watching the Tour de France since Greg LeMond was riding — which is quite a feat, since I was 6 the first time he won. But my father taught me to love cycling, and as an avid fan, I can honestly say that I really don’t care who’s doping and who isn’t.

I don’t have an opinion on whether Floyd Landis doped or not — but I do think that if he did, he was one of many. Obviously all of the Tour favorites got suspended for doping, which broke my heart — as a Jan Ullrich fan, I was looking forward to cheering him on to a second Tour win. But I don’t care if he doped either.

Cycling is different from other sports in that the equipment is as important as the rider. In 1989, when Greg LeMond used triathlon bars in the last time trial, he gained those precious eight seconds to win the whole race. What is the difference between adding to or changing the bike itself, and adding to or changing the bike rider’s body? Different riders use different technical equipment on their bikes, and no one argues that this gives them an unfair advantage. It requires a great deal of science, study, and trial and error to create the perfect bicycle. Why not allow the same thing for the bike riders?

I’m sick and tired of all the fuss about doping. I just want to see a good bike race!

Erica Franke
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Man, I just don’t know . . .
Editor:
Wow, what can I say? It’s taken me days to even write about this. I received my copy of VeloNews in the mail, and there on the cover is a picture of “King Floyd.” I just couldn’t open the magazine. I turned and walked over to my recycler and threw it in, unread.

I honestly don’t know if he’s guilty, but I do know I’m tired of reading about all this drug stuff. As one of your poll questions asks: “Man, I just don’t know. . . .”

I think I’ll go for a long bike ride.

George Byrne
Burien, Washington

Pereiro’s a little too eager
Editor:
I find Oscar Pereiro overly eager to have the yellow jersey bestowed upon him with pomp and ceremony. He could learn a bit from Denis Menchov’s humble, reluctant acceptance of his Vuelta win. Pereiro declares, “I wanted to be on the Champs-Elysées with the yellow jersey. That’s a disappointment.… For this, I am not happy with Landis, but that’s life.”

No, Oscar, that’s not life. You getting a 30-minute bonus, that’s life. You already won the lottery once. Don’t act like you’re entitled to it twice. You would have finished about 20th without the advantage given to you by the man you now cry foul against. Bottom line, Floyd’s been the hmost dominant rider all season while you’ve never been a factor. He’s been doing 400-watt rides all year long. Stage 17 was not an anomaly for him.

Floyd’s track record should cause us all to consider that maybe there’s a possibility this positive test result is specious. Even if he did take testosterone (which I don’t believe), it still wouldn’t compensate for the disadvantage of a disintegrating hip.

You might eventually get the yellow jersey, Oscar, but have a little patience and let your “old friend” Floyd at least have a chance to defend himself first.

Mark Radcliffe
Los Angeles, California

Way to go, Jens
Editor:
I just read that Jens Voigt won the Tour of Germany. It’s great to see a rider like Jens win a big event like this. After the goings-on at the Tour de France this year (from the proceedings before the race started, to the joy of seeing Floyd Landis win, to the disgust, confusion and disappointment of the positive blood tests) it’s great to feel good again about a rider and the sport.

From all I have read and heard, Jens is well respected and liked by his teammates and competitors. When you hear someone talk about him he is always described as hard-working, dedicated and tenacious. Way to go, Jens — well deserved.

Jay Westfall
Lancaster, Ohio

Uh huh, yeah, right
Editor:
Wow, what a few weeks can do for a rider! In the first Tour de France time trial (stage 7), Jens Voigt was DFL, more than four minutes behind Levi Leipheimer’s dismal performance. In the Tour of Germany, he posted the fasted time in the TT, 1:14 ahead of Levi. I never knew the man was a climber or a time trialer. I guess anything is possible these days.

Amy Thomas
Lakewood, Colorado

Regarding the rant
Editor:
I thought the >last one was funny. This one had me laughing by myself this morning, as I was first into an empty office. I didn’t know I could laugh with no one around to hear me. Someone needs to shoot O’Grady while he is ahead, before he goes and pisses everyone off again.

J. Scott Schoel
Decatur, Alabama

The big question is: Why?
Editor:
Though crudely, and so like he always does (man, I laughed hard), Patrick O’Grady does in fact bring up a great point that has been overlooked: Why? What motive would you have to do that? You can point to how, when, and where the action took place. But no crime is truly solved until we know why.

Why would he stoop to the intake of French wine? He has written that way before. I’ve seen it in his work ethic. There wasn’t any risk of contempt from his fans if he had written another bad course of words. We all still respect him (sometimes). Why would he risk losing his fans, his livelihood, the good ride, and support he has had with VeloNews? Even if he though he could get away with it during the test, there wasn’t any need to do it. A little extra boost of alcoholic content wasn’t going to decrease his abilities any more on that particular day. Adding a nicotine patch to his scrotum wouldn’t allow him to tick over the keys any faster. The whiskey in his bottom drawer that he shares with his co-workers would have been more effective if in fact he was going to cheat.

No! Something is wrong here. No one has been able to tell me why he supposedly did it? Is he so ignorant that he thought it could make a difference? Did he just get weak for moment after a tough day and dabbled in the black arts? Or, is there some sort of agenda?

I believe Floyd Landis when he says, “Nobody in their right mind would take testosterone just once. It doesn’t work that way.” I believe him because I also believe in O’Grady. I saw the results of what he wrote that day. Wine wasn’t going to make any difference in how history was written that day.

John A. Nelson
Washington, D.C.

Wednesday’s Mailbag: Floyd, Oscar and Jens; fans bid adieu; and that rant

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