My Glory Days and Lance Armstrong

I’m often asked “did you ever race against Lance Armstrong?”  In fact, I did, a few times.  As I sit here with my Achilles tendon newly repaired and a years worth of rehab ahead of me, I hear that Lance Armstrong is retiring (again) from the world of professional cycling.  I raced against Lance during the 90’s and prior to his onslaught of seven wins at the Tour de France.  In fact I raced against him in 1996 in Wisconsin right after he dropped out of the Tour de France, before the Olympic Games and later that year as he announced he was riddled with cancer. Lance did the impossible those next few years off the bike, beating an insurmountable cancer diagnosis and then winning the Tour in dramatic fashion.  Yeah, I read the book “It’s not About the Bike” and was inspired.  After all, I had done several races against Lance and saw first hand his talent.

I was lucky, I also had the chance to race against Levi Leipheimer, David Zabriskie, Tyler Hamilton and Chris Horner to name just a few that have reached the height of the cycling world.  Only Chris Horner (who is almost my age) hasn’t come under any type of drug doping suspicion.  I raced against a lot of great cyclists back in the 90’s and I look back fondly on that.  There were many days of suffering and hard work but it was what I loved and the joy of racing, the competition and camaraderie never got old.

Lance obviously missed that joy and competition after he retired in 2005 as he made a grand pronouncement and comeback four years later.  This time it was about his cancer foundation and spreading the word across the world.  To me, I didn’t care what his purpose was and actually I would have preferred he focus on cycling or cancer but not both.  Why come back as a side show?  If you come back from a sport you were once the king of the hill at, then come back to be that again.  But Lance had this grand scheme in mind to serve humanity and race his bike; at least that was the premise he gave us.

Lance leaves the sport again, having only won a minor race (Nevada City Classic Criterium) and in the midst of the most serious doping allegation to date.  The new allegations are from his former teammate and disqualified (and disgraced) 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis.  These accusations are specific and from a close INSIDE member of the squad back in Lance’s hay-day.  Some of the accusations seem a bit far-fetched, but on the whole they are very damning.  Perhaps Lance knew that his previous 7 tours were tainted and wanted to make a comeback in this seemingly new drug-free era of cycling to prove he could do it clean.  Prove it to himself and to those that drugged with him (and his family) that he really was a stand-up champion.  Without delving into the mind too much, Lance was probably giving himself a way out by saying “see, I can win clean and everyone else was dirty back then…so it’s all relative.”  This is just speculation of course.

To me, I’m glad Lance quit and quite honestly I didn’t revel in the articles that were posted immediately upon his announcement.  I did that the first retirement and there just isn’t anything up-beat to review this time around.   He disappointed me in his approach to cycling during the comeback just as he disappointed me in the news that came out about the possibility of doping.  It’s like I tell my kids, if you aren’t in a position to be in trouble, you won’t be blamed for anything.  Basically there are just too many rumors and stories and specifics that make the chance of Lance being clean his whole cycling career almost impossible.  Very unlikely at least.

I never did any drugs for my cycling, except a few caffeine pills before a race (within the legal limit) and my stomach was a mess the whole time.  I tried the method of working hard and it gave me several years of joy, lots of pain and suffering and great memories.  But I can look back on my time in the saddle and know that every time I did great, it was because of my own ability and hard work.  And every time I did poorly or not quite up to my expectations – well, I’m still trying to find an excuse for those times.  But in the meantime, I’ll relive my glory days with a clean conscience and a few laughs.