To Livestrong or not to Livestrong... my point of view

I know there are people awaiting/anticipating my take on Lance Armstrong. I’ve been weighing my thoughts, holding off until I saw all of Oprah’s interview before saying anything. 

So here are my thoughts:

First, above anything, Lance Armstrong is a human being, and is as fallible (whether he likes it or not) as you and me.

Next, I want to make it explicitly clear that I admire Lance Armstrong for what he has done for the cancer community. He single-handedly brought cancer to the forefront of many discussions. Regardless of how or why he did it, one thing stands true – he raised awareness and a whole lot of money for the cancer community.

As a cancer survivor, I can thank Lance Armstrong for giving me something to focus on in the summer of 2002 that was NOT my cancer struggle. Having been single and alone that summer, I am grateful that I was able to watch Lance struggle to eke out another Tour de France victory. It gave me hope that I could accomplish great things yet in my life. Sweating chemicals while lying flat on my back, I drew strength imagining the day I could ride my bike again.

I’ve said it before… before Lance was diagnosed with cancer… I thought he was an asshole. It was not until 1999 when he won his first Tour did I change my mind. The unfolding of the doping stories, however, remind me why I used to think Lance was an asshole – his brash, unflinching attitude, and cockiness is once again coming to light.

But what about doping? What is my take on that? It may surprise some of you, but I understand why he doped. AND… I do not blame him for doping. Doping has been inherent in cycling for years… maybe forever. The 1998 Tour de France was my first recognition that the sport was dirty. The entire Festina team was kicked off the Tour, and many others were kicked out as well.

In the years that followed, cycling “tried to clean up its act”. If nothing else, doping was now visible by the public.

In the last five or so years, many riders from the 1990s have admitted to doping. They have been banned, some of their honors have been removed, etc…

If we at recent Tour de France history, we have the following Tour winners:

Bradley Wiggins (2012), Cadel Evans (2011), Andy Schleck (2010), Alberto Contador (2007, 2009), Carlos Sastre (2008), Oscar Pereiro (2006), Lance Armstrong (1999-2005), Marco Pantani (1998), Jan Ullrich (1997), and Bjarne Riis (1996).

Of those, Alberto Contador received a 2 year ban, and lost his 2010 title (which was given to Schleck). Oscar Pereiro received his title because the uncanny winner, Floyd Landis, was busted for doping. Lance just admitted to doping. Marco Pantani is dead from a cocaine overdose. Jan Ullrich was banned from cycling for doping. Bjarne Riis admitted doping.

Doping has been rampant in the sport. In Lance’s interview, he said doping was like getting air in your tires, water in your bottles… it was what you did. I understand that. To compete, you had to dope. Right or wrong, that’s the fact.

I think where Lance went so wrong was by denying it so vehemently, and being so vengeful towards those who tried telling the truth. The man is ruthless. That is his personality. That is the asshole part of him.

If Lance is truly trying to mend his ways, then kudos to him. It’s going to be a long, painful road.

The fact remains that maybe we all need to realize that the man is human after all. He may actually be someone we don’t like. He took us all for a ride, and we went along with him. Many of us suspended our belief in reality, and we need to accept that.

Was it right to dope? Did Lance cheat? Like he said in his interview – he didn’t think so. He felt it put him on an even playing field. Cheating is only cheating if it gives you an unfair advantage. As we keep learning, and will continue to learn, if 190 out of 209 riders dope, are the dopers cheating?

I like to think that under the same circumstances, I would avoid doping. For me, the greatest risk is risk to my health. If I knew something was bad for me, I’d hope I would steer clear of it. But who knows for sure?

The other thing that I like to remind myself of is that regardless of who doped or not, the Tour de France is still a race of 2,200 miles in 21 days with only 2 days off in between. Nearly two hundred hours in the saddle, and you still have to avoid crashes, animals, fans, trains, cars, and did I mention crashes? To do that, and win 7 years in a row is quite a feat – doping or not.

You and I will never likely perform such a feat one time in our lives.

Lance bashing will become the new Tiger Woods bashing. We will get over it, and Lance will get over it, and through it, and hopefully become a better man because of it.

I will not bash Lance. At one of the lowest moments of my life, Lance gave me hope. He gave me courage to Livestrong. And he gave me tools of survivorship. Armed with these items, I worked my way through treatment and survivor’s guilt. I learned a lot about me, and stopped fighting myself. I became a better man, and learned how to give back. I allowed myself to love and be loved.

Everyone has flaws, and like it or not, Lance Armstrong may actually be doing a bigger good by admitting he doped. Maybe this will go a long way to clean up the sport. But more importantly, his kids, and failed relationships will be stepping stones to how he is ultimately remembered.

I am reminded of the 1996 Tour de France, when Lance was on the Motorola team, and Lance’s teammate Fabio Casartelli crashed and died on a descent in the mountains. The following day, Lance took the stage win and gestured to the skies in Fabio’s memory. In 2001, the Tour took the peloton past Fabio’s monument. Lance won the stage, and gestured exactly as he had done 5 years prior.

I think it’s time for Lance – who has rubbed elbows with some of the greatest… Bernard Hinault, Eddy Mercxx, and “Big Mig” Indurain… to ask himself how he wants to be remembered.

I pray that he finds how to be remembered as a good, kind, influential human being.