FanPost

Martin Dugard

[editor's note, by chris] Good recommendation here...

If you didn't read Martin's blog during TDF, shame on me for not linking it here earlier. There's plenty of deep reading, and the archives are well worth a couple of hours browsing. He got it right again yesterday:

So then Landis goes and tests positive ... I don't feel betrayed or let down, because I now know enough about testosterone to know that Landis didn't decimate the competition on the road into Morzine by using a drug. If it had been EPO or some sort of blood doping, that would be different. But testosterone doesn't enhance performance in that fashion. I think the sadness I feel (in addition to being a little appalled at how quickly he's been crucified, and the fact that self-serving individuals and organizations are using him to further their own agendas -- I'm talking to you Dick Pound and Greg Lemond, and even, to a lesser extent, Bill Plaschke), is an almost childlike sense of innocence lost.

After the famous Stage 17, I went out and burned my 17 mile loop faster than I have done in a couple of years. Same day, Dugard blogged "Blame it on the Landis effect, but I was overcome by the urge to push out of the comfort zone this morning." Same here.