Lance Armstrong

[Hood]

For anyone who follows cycling the charging of Armstrong with doping has to rank as the main story at the moment. I really don't know what to think.

On one hand I think his story is too good for him to be completely true and clean. To win seven Tours is a phenomenal achievement but to do it having beaten cancer even more so. My cynicism comes from all the doping stories from the past and the possibility that if you are really clever you can beat a drugs testing regime. There may even be doping systems that are still undetectable with present testing, like EPO in the 90s or the use of blood transfusions.

I just think back to winners like Indurain with crazy low heartbeats of 26 or so, never tested positive but winning the tour at a time when doping was rife and overt. I've read stories of cyclists having syringes in their jerseys and doping as and when they needed it.

I hope that Armstrong didn't dope and that this is the finding. I really hope this because he has become a force for help for others on the back of his Tour successes. I also think that doping or not, to win the Tour is an incredible feat and to manage seven wins is a super-human effort.

Maybe too super-human. We'll see what the evidence is.

Just ramblin'

Hood