My take on Lance

I was a big supporter of Floyd Landis. I felt he was being railroaded. Then he admits it, bubble burst. Then of course there was Alberto Contador. What is it with the persecution of American winners? Then he was found guilty. But I continued to support Lance Armstrong. I strongly felt that he was being persecuted and that they would not stop until they got him. Call it naivete if you wish, but I really wanted to believe in him. Now that Lance has refused to defend himself any longer, in the face of Tyler Hamilton and Frankie Landreau's testimony against him, I am not so certain. Is Lance also guilty? Is my 7-time Tour de France hero a drug user too? I don't know, but my faith in him as a champion is shaken. My desire to follow cycling has been diminished. In spite of this, I cannot help but continue to be a supporter of Lance Armstrong the man if not the cyclist. It has become apparent that cycling at that level has so many drug cheaters that there is no point in thinking that any of them have not been users at one point in their career or another. I wonder how many other Tour de France champions used performance enhancing drugs or cheated in some way. Lance though has done so much good work through his foundation and continues to be a huge voice in cancer research that I am willing to concentrate on that and forget that he may be a fallen hero in the cycling world.